


Got the Baby Blues

by DairyFarmer



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Selves, Alternate Universe, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blue Says AU, Canon Universe, Creampie, Hand Jobs, Inter dimensional travel, Jealous Keith (Voltron), M/M, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Smut in the last chapter, au where lance never went to the garrison, figure skater lance, he gets it eventually tho oooooh he gets it, keith is going to be one jealous bean, of himself lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-11-08 20:05:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 58,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11088963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DairyFarmer/pseuds/DairyFarmer
Summary: Lance was the Blue paladin-that was his thing. He piloted, made awesome one-liners, flirted, and helped save the universe on a daily basis. Lance was a tried and true hero. But an incident with a wormhole leaves behind doubles of all the paladins except for Lance, only they're not doubles-they're their alternate selves from a different reality.XxXAU where Lance never went to the Garrison





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> oh man i love this au and the person who created this AU is alexandralumetta.tumblr.com and their blue-says AU. which is amazing!

Lance blamed Keith.

It might sound a little unfair but everything was definitely Keith’s fault.

Afterall it's not like any of the  _ other _ paladins are at fault. 

Who pissed off the druids? Keith. 

Who attacked even though Shiro didn’t say to? Keith. 

Who wanted to keep fighting even after Allura said they had to retreat? Keith. 

Fucking Keith. 

If Blue’s paint was scratched when they returned to the hangers he was going to give that young John Stamos impersonator hell.

“Lance on your left!”

Oh and here he was  _ again _ . Bossing Lance around like he had some kind of  _ authority _ .

“I’m not blind! I can see!” Lance fires back and quickly flips Blue around, looking for whatever Keith was trying to warn him about. But there’s nothing there! Lance quickly scanned the open expanse of space, no ships, no shiny purple lights.  _ Nada _ . Was Keith pulling his leg? Wow. And  _ Lance _ is the  _ immature _ one.

“Lance above you!” Shiro suddenly screams from his comms. Lance freezes and turns Blue up. 

A ship a little bigger than a fighter is quickly approaching him, and it’s also glowing an unnervingly bright color. Oh _ fuck _ .

“Blue let’s get out of here!” Lance exclaims, immediately steering her back around and flying in a zigzag formation. They can’t hurt him if they can’t hit him.

“ _ Come on babe. _ ” Lance whispers, urging Blue to fly faster.

“Paladins I’m opening a wormhole! We need to leave! NOW!” Allura yells urgently. Lance tries to listen and follow the castle but his ears are ringing, he feels like his heart is beating a mile and minute, and he swears he can feel the heat of the pursuing galra ship right  _ on his tail _ .

“Lance over here!” Pidge yells, laying out several shots towards the ship chasing him.

Lance quickly readjusts Blue’s direction and turns to the safety of their cover fire. The other Lions are offering their own assistance, attempting to get the ship away from Lance. A red shot almost hits Blue’s back.

“Watch it mullet! You’re supposed to be aiming for  _ them _ not me!” Lance hisses. Keith appears on his monitor, a scowl painting his features.

“I’m trying to help you, the least you could do is stop your whining!” He spits out. Lance bites back a retort and feels weariness begin to settle into Blue, the proximity to that Galra ship is doing  _ something _ to her.

“ _ Shit _ .” Lance curses. “Guys! Something's up with Blue!” 

Blue’s movements are becoming sluggish and she's beginning to marginally slow down.

“Lance it’s just a little further come on!” Hunk is urging from his headset and Lance looks up from his dashboard to see the other Lions beginning to enter the wormhole with the castle.  _ ‘Come on baby blue, we can do this!’   _ The Galra ship is right behind him and Lance feels sparks of electricity or magic or  _ whatever _ the hell that freaking ship is, tickling at Blue’s back paws.

Lance feels ferocity rise again in Blue and shifts her thrusters up again. The extra boost is barely enough to shoot Lance through wormhole just as the galra ship releases an shattering ‘ _ boom _ ’ and explodes into a spectacle of light.

Warning signals begin to flash around Blue’s cockpit and Lance immediately tries to reach his teammates but their comms are down. The castle is shaking violently in front of him but the doors to the hanger are still open. Lance activates the power on Blue’s thrusters but the strong magnetic pull of the wormhole is jostling him around.

“Come on,  _ come on _ .” Lance grits as he attempts to steer Blue steady. Blue’s navigation is down so he's going to have to pinpoint the landing by eyeballing it. 

Lance manages to get into the hanger but is thrown almost immediately along the walls as the castle shudders with a groan that sounded almost human. Lance braces himself along Blue’s cockpit and holds onto his pilot's chair, his forehead creasing in distress as Blue is lifelessly thrown around with the sudden lurches of the castle. He's beginning to feel dizzy and hasn't felt this nauseous since he first started g-force training back at the Garrison. Then all of a sudden the lurching stops. It's quiet. Completely quiet. 

Lance lifts his head that he had tucked down and gazes around his Lion's cockpit. The power’s out, not even Blue’s sensors are on. 

Lance closes his eyes and tries to reach out for Blue. He can feel her distantly which is strange, she’s always right at the back of his mind. Lance tries to stretch out his connection but flinches when it's violently thrown back at him.

“Okay, okay,” Lance soothes. “You’re in a bit of a mood, I’ll leave you alone.” Lance whispers and carefully stands from the pilot’s chair, stumbling slightly as he leaves his Lion's cockpit. Lance enters the hanger and sees that the other Lions have been parked gracelessly as well.

“Guys?” Lance asks into the comms. The only thing that responds is static.

“Allura? Coran?” Lance asks, becoming unnerved by the silence. No one picks up.

“Alright that's it I’m heading to the bridge.” Lance mumbles to himself and begins to jog in the direction of the nearest lift.

Lance stops in front of the door and patiently waits for it to slide open, it takes bit longer than usual but Lance immediately dismisses it as the castle glitching from the recent attack. The ride is quick and silent, Lance is tapping his foot anxiously, waiting for the lift to stop. The second the doors slide open Lance immediately bolts in the direction of the bridge.

“Allura! Shiro! Guys!” Lance yells as the door to the main control room slides open and he skids to a stop. Lance freezes at the sight that greets him, the main deck is absolutely trashed. 

A thick blanket of smoke is covering the room, holographic monitors are flickering, the projecting glass that surrounds the room is cracked and some of the wiring in the walls has been forcibly gutted by the attack and lays scattered around the room.

“ _ Holy shit _ .” Lance breathes. A groan catches his attention and the smoke is clear enough by him for Lance to spot Pidge attempting to stand, holding onto their command seat and head while trying to steady themselves. Lance immediately rushes over and puts his arms around them.

“Pidge be careful!” Lance exclaims worriedly. “You could be hurt, try not to move!” Lance says and gently leads them back to their seat where they were likely thrown from. Lance winces slightly as he sets Pidge down. He was lucky Blue took a majority of the jostling but Pidge and the others were likely at the mercy of the forces within the wormhole.

“Lance?” A voice groans from nearby. Lance immediately looks up at the sound of his name, glancing around the room for the source.

“Lance. Down here.” The voice repeats. Lance looks down and is startled to see Pidge curled up on the floor by their command chair.

“Pidge?” Lance asks incredulously. 

Lance sweeps their gaze back to the Pidge resting their head in the palm of their hands on the chair.

“W-woah.” Lance backs away slowly. “What the hell.”

“Lance.” The Pidge on the floor repeats.

“ _ What the hell. _ ” Lance whispers. A pained moan from nearby draws Lance’s attention. Lance turns and spots Hunk rising from his chair. 

“Hunk!” Lance exclaims. “Oh thank god! Listen, there's  _ two- _ ” Lance chokes on air, freezing, as a  _ second _ Hunk Garrett stands up. Lance gapes as the two turn their confused gazes to him.

“Lance?” One asks. The other Hunk turns to the one who spoke and flinches as he spots the doppelgänger. 

“Woah.” He says in astonishment, the Hunk that spoke (Lance will dub him Hunk #1)  turns to face Hunk #2 and reacts similarly. The two squint at each other and begin to examine each other critically.

“ _ Lance _ !” The Pidge from the floor says urgently and Lance flinches, turning around and bending down to reach their level.

“Yeah? Uh...Pidge?” Lance asks hesitantly. Pidge looks up at them through pain clouded eyes and Lance immediately feels ashamed for forgetting about them.

“Help me get on my back, I think I may have broken my elbow when I fell.” They grit out. Lance immediately nods and gently maneuvers his arms around them to carefully lean them back and softly lay them on the floor by their chair. Lance gently slides off their helmet and allows Pidge’s head to rest on  the deck, brushing back the hair of their bangs that have begun to stick to the sweat of their forehead.

“Sorry Pidgey.” Lance whispers. Pidge nods slightly and closes their eyes, grimacing in pain. Lance's forehead creases in concern and he softly strokes Pidge's forehead.

“We’ll get you a healing pod, don't worry Pidge.” Lance assures them and sets their helmet to the side. Lance glances towards the Pidge in the chair who's still cradling their head and slowly approaches them. 

“A-Are you okay?” Lance asks carefully. The Pidge in the chair lets out a similar pained groan.

“I hit my head on the chair when I fell, I think... _ I-I _ -I have a concussion.” They manage to say. Lance nods and stands up straighter.

“I’ll get Coran to activate healing pods for you two.” Lance promises and turns to face the two Hunks who are watching the Pidges in concern.

“Hunk...s. Watch Pidge I’m going to make sure Coran and the others are okay.” Lance says, not waiting for a response before rushing into the smoke. Had he stayed around for a second longer he would’ve seen one Hunk nod affirmatively while the other gazed at his back in confusion.

Lance makes his way to Allura's steering controls first. 

“Allura?” He calls out, unable to see anything through the thick smoke. “Princess?” He repeats. Lance clicks his tongue in agitation and turns towards Coran’s control panel instead.

“Coran?” Lance calls out, scanning the area. “Is there like a fan or something you can turn on to clear away this smoke? I can't see anything and no one is responding!” Lance asks, borderline desperate. Rather than get a response, Lance hears the gentle hum of the air filtration system being turned on and waits for ten tics before the air has cleared enough for him to see a few feet in front of him. He can spot Allura easily, sitting down on the edge of the steering deck and rubbing her neck with a grimace.

“Allura!” Lance exclaims and rushes forward. Allura flinches at her name and looks up at him with wide eyes.

“Look Allura, there's  _ two _ Pidges. Don't ask me how, I don't know. But they're both hurt and need a healing pod!” Lance insists. Allura is staring up at him with a stunned expression.

“Allura, didn't you hear me?” He asks. Allura slowly stands and carefully approaches Lance, her arm out stretched towards him. Lance is watching her with wary eyes. Did she hit her head too? Allura rests her palm on Lance's shoulder and peers up at his face with a calculating look.

“Blue...” She murmurs. Lance frowns.

“Lance?” A familiar voice calls. Lance looks up and spots Allura, Shiro, and Keith watching him and the  _ other _ Allura.

“More?!” Lance exclaims. Lance backs away from the Allura that had her palm on his shoulder and watches her with guarded eyes.

“What's going on?” He asks suspiciously.

“What indeed my boy.” Coran says from behind him. Lance's shoulders sag in relief.

“Coran, you don't know how relieved I am to see you- _ ahhhh _ !” Lance screams and rapidly backs away from the two Coran’s watching him. Lance bumps into the Allura that put their hand on their shoulder and shrieks again. The Allura he bumped into raises her hands away from him and is attempting to calm him down.

“It is alright.” They assure. Which  _ no _ .  _ It's not. _ Because there are  _ doubles _ of all his friends.

“Shiro do something!” Lance exclaims as he panics and runs from the Allura to hide behind his leader’s back. There's a cut on Shiro's forehead that's still steadily bleeding when Lance ducks down behind him. Shiro gives him a short look that was probably meant to be reassuring before he gazes out to the rest of the room and freezes when he spots his lookalike staring back, another Keith by his side. Shiro does the only thing he can think of in that situation. He waves. His clone waves hesitantly back. Keith's clone narrows his gaze on him. Lance tightly grips Shiro's shoulder and pops up to see what he's looking at.

Lance spots the other Keith and immediately groans, resting his head on Shiro's back.

“Oh no. Not  _ another _ Keith.” He whines. The Keith immediately by Shiro and only two feet away bristles and glares at Lance. He opens his mouth to say something but is cut off when Hunk calls out from across the room.

“Uh Guys? Pidge kinda needs that pod. They seem like they're in a lot of pain.” One of the Hunks calls out. Shiro immediately whips around to face Pidge's seat and spots one Pidge on the floor and the other in the chair, cradling their head.

“Coran get a healing pod ready!” Both Shiros exclaim at once. Their eyes meet for a second before the two rush over to the injured Pidges and each pick one up, silently apologizing for jostling them when they each let out grunts of pain. Lance and the others hurry to Shiro's side and run alongside Coran as they all rush to the infirmary.

“Lance please get out a first aid kit for everyone else!” Coran exclaims as each Coran begin individually calibrating a healing pod and removing a medical suit from the chute nearby. 

The Corans load  the suits into slots on the pods and motion for each Shiro to put Pidge in. The second the healing pod door closes the door turns opaque for a couple of tics before the Pidges were revealed once again, dressed  in their medical suits, having been changed inside the machine.

Lance opens one of the nearby storage  cabinets and immediately digs out a first aid kit he personally helped reorganize.  Helping Coran sort and clean the medical bay had been his punishment after he and Keith got into a fight on the training deck. Not that it had been his  _ fault _ .

Lance turns around and spots the doubles of each person split between watching the Pidges in the pods and Lance slowly approaching them.  _ Wait a second _ .

“Hey where's other me?” Lance asks, slightly offended. The six paladins and four Alteans turn to look at him in confusion.

“You each got a double, or a clone, or whatever they are. Where's mine?” Lance asks. The paladins and Alteans glance to each other in confusion. 

“I think I might know!” One of the Corans exclaim, twirling their mustache. Lance raises a brow and turns his attention to the ginger Altean who is giving him a considering look.

“I believe we may not be doubles,” he begins, approaching Lance,  “but rather we are alternates of ourselves from a completely separate universe.” Coran explains, stopping in front of Lance.

“How can you know that?” One of the Shiro's asks, gazing at Coran in confusion. Coran flips around and lets his gaze wash over the gathered crowd before quickly pointing a finger at a startled Lance.

“Because we don't  _ have _ a Blue Paladin.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> pidge wakes up and revelations are made about the paladins and their situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was actually planning on not posting this chapter until Sunday but i figured that i could just begin working on ch 3 during the weekend rather than finishing ch 2 and posting it, so i finished this early and did it now.

Lance freezes and immediately turns to the gathered paladins to gauge their reactions. One out of each pair looks disbelieving while the others look at Lance with interest(which they hardly ever do).

“What are you talking about? _Of course_ we have a Blue paladin. It's Lance.” Keith says suddenly, gesturing towards Lance with slight frown.

“Well I can't speak for you but I personally don't know a _‘Lance’_ .” The other Keith pipes up, glaring suspiciously at what Lance supposes is _his_ Keith.

“Woah wait a second.” Lance says, drawing all eyes to him, but he's only focused on the Keith that claimed not to know him. “Are you sure you’ve never met me before? Maybe even seen me? Cuz you claim not to know me a lot.” Lance says.

The other Keith shakes his head.

“Sorry. I don't know a _‘Lance_.’”

“Not even from the Garrison?” Lance interrogates. “Maybe we just didn't see each other. I was in cargo class after all. Hunk, buddy, back me up here.” Lance says, turning to the two Hunks. One of the Hunks frowns in confusion.

“I’m sorry...Lance, was it? But I-I don't know you either.” He says, gazing at Lance apologetically. Lance gapes and feels distress begin to sing in his chest.

“Wha-? No, buddy it's me!” Lance insists, taking a light step forward, his eyes brimming with hurt. “Lance? We sat next to each other on the bus to the Garrison in our first year! We’ve shared a dorm for the last four years, ever since we joined at fourteen! You gotta remember _me_ man!” Lance says. Hunk creased his forehead in confusion and slowly shook his head.

“I-I’m sorry. My roommate for the last for years was a boy named Jacob Avery-he was in engineering like me, that's how the computer matched us up since I didn't request a specific roommate the first year.” Hunk says sadly, twiddling his thumbs and looking away from Lance.

“But...we’re best friends.” Lance whispers, his eyes pained. Hunk freezes and looks up at him in shock. His Hunk darts forward and envelopes Lance in a hug.

“Awww Lance.” He coos. Lance immediately wraps his arms around Hunk's neck and squeezes him back as tightly as he can, smushing his cheek against Hunk's and burying his nose in Hunk's neck. Hunk gave the best hugs when he wasn't squeezing the life out of you.

“As touching as this is, shouldn't we figure out _why_ there are sets of each of us save Lance?” The not-Keith asked. Lance peeks over Hunk's shoulder and glares at him.

“I see you’re still an asshole no matter the universe.” Lance huffs.

“Lance!” Shiro scolds, frowning.

“What! He started it! You all saw!” Lance exclaims. Shiro raises a disbelieving brow and Lance releases a put-upon sigh.

“Fine. I’m sorry mullet.” Lance says gazing at Keith who was staring at him in a mixture of shock and furrowed brows.

“ _Lance_.” Shiro warns, frowning.

“Fine. I’m sorry _Keith_. There. Is that better?” Lance asks crossing his arms and leaning against Hunk. Shiro sighs deeply and shakes his head in exasperation, turning to the other Shiro who was watching their interactions curiously. But then again, so were the other Lance-less people.

“...You know we should probably come up with something to call each other because we can't call both Shiros ‘Shiro’ or both Hunks ‘Hunk’.” Lance mentions before smirking. “But since I’m apparently the only Lance- _I_ get to keep my name.”

The others look to each other in confusion, Allura is the first one to speak up.

“I suppose I can simply go by Princess.” One of the Alluras offers. Lance nods.

“Uhuh uhuh and which one are you? Lance? Or Lance-less?” Lance asks.

The Princess tilts her head in confusion.

“Lance means whether you’re from the universe with a Blue paladin or one without.” Hunk offers. Lance smiles and fist bumps him.

“Oh, without. I hail from the universe without a Blue paladin.” She says. Lance immediately winks at her.

“Must be rough babe.”

“ _Lance_.” Shiro says, stressing his name.

“It is quite alright.” Princess insists, turning back to Lance with a small smile. Lance swears his heart skipped a beat. “Forming Voltron is incredibly difficult as the Blue Lion, who is typically the most accepting Lion has rejected every potential pilot, including myself.”

“Wait. You tried to pilot Blue?” Lance asks incredulously. Princess nods slowly.

“The Blue Lion has reluctantly agreed to a conditioned agreement with me, I may only pilot her when Voltron is needed. That has made the war against Zarkon particularly difficult. Every battle is a fight for survival. Every skirmish is life threatening.” Princess says, staring at Lance with the most serious expression he’d ever seen. Lance gulps and furrows his brows slightly.

“So if you don't have a Blue paladin...how did you get off Earth?” Lance asked, turning to the other paladins. Keith raises his hand.

“We’re not in class mullet, just say it.” Lance says with more bite than he meant. Keith flushes and clears his throat.

“It was me. I piloted the Blue lion to get us off Earth.”

“ _You_?” Lance asks, voice coated in disbelief. Keith bristles and glares at Lance.

“I _found_ her. So she must like me on some level.” Keith retorts.

“Uh I wouldn't say that.” Other Hunk says. Other Shiro nods.

“What happened could barely be called piloting a Lion.” Shiro says. Keith huffs.

“It's not my fault! She wouldn't listen to what I was telling her to do!” Keith exclaims. Lance snorts, both at Keith being unable to pilot and what he just said about Blue.

“What are you talking about? Of _course_ she listened, she just misunderstood what you wanted.” Lance says, defending his Lion. Because like hell he’ll stand here and listen to someone badmouth _his_ Lady in Blue.

Keith frowns in confusion at his words. So does everyone else for that matter.

“Might you elaborate on that statement Lance?” The Princess asks. Lance shrugs and slowly unwraps himself from Hunk's arms.

“Blue is...like a kid I guess?” Lance begins. “She changes her mind really quickly, isn't really sure of what she wants unless you decide for her. She's super adaptable and friendly, really trusting. But when she's mad, _oh man_ . I think I’ve only made her mad twice-once today and another time that I’m not going to talk about. Point being is, if you don't tell Blue _exactly_ what you want, and explain _exactly_ how you want to do it-she's gunna have a hard time following you.” Lance says, explaining the best he can.

His relationship with Blue isn't something he can easily put into words. Blue is _Blue_. How do you explain that? It takes a moment to notice that the rooms is staring at him. The Princess is grinning brightly.

“You were able to build a personality profile of your Lion! This is excellent news!” Princess exclaims, clapping her hands together. Lance nods slowly.

“I mean yeah I guess? Does...does Blue not talk to you? Because the talking is more of a benefit to her than you.” Lance says. Princess's excited smile falls and she slowly shakes her head.

“The Blue Lion does not communicate with me outside what is absolutely necessary.” She says lowly. Lance’s eyebrows raise in astonishment.

“Really? That's weird. Blue loves talking. Does it all the time. Which makes sense of course, she was stranded in the middle of a desert for 10,000 years, no water except for an underground stream.” He’s heard her complain about that lousy desert more than enough to have it engraved in his memory. Princess nods slowly and frowns down at the ground. Lance feels like the silence should probably be broken and turns back to face Other-Hunk, smiling gently.

“So Hunk any idea of what you might wanna be called?” Lance asks. Hunk furrows his brows and shrugs slightly.

“I was just thinking of stucking with my name “Tsuyoshi” and the other me seems to already have a nickname so that makes it easier.” Tsuyoshi remarks.

“Wait, Hunk isn't your real name?” Keith asks, surprised. Shiro also has a similar look of astonishment. Hunk smiles and shakes his head.

“Nah, it's a nickname that Lance gave me a week after we started sharing a room.” Hunk says and lightly punches Lance's shoulder. Lance grins at him.

“Why ‘Hunk’?” Other Keith asks. Lance immediately reaches for one of Hunk's hands and lifts it at a 90 degree angle, forcing Hunk to flex.

“See this?” Lance asks, fondly patting the muscle. “That's pure strength. If Hunk wanted, he could snap me in half like a twig. Do you have any idea how hot that is?”

Hunk and Tsuyoshi both flush a bright red at Lance's words. Lance shamelessly smirks and makes no move to remove his hands from Hunk's muscles. Both Keiths look slightly impressed and both Shiros are lifting their eyebrows at Lance's description.

“Well what about you Shiro?” Lance asks, dropping Hunk’s hand and staring across at the Black paladin. Other-Shiro puts his hand on his chin for a second before responding.

“I was thinking either ‘Shirogane’ or ‘Takashi’ if one of us is going to keep ‘Shiro’.” He said, looking to the other for a response. Shiro nods.

“I think ‘Shirogane’ would be better, we both get to keep our name, just slightly differing formalities of it.” Shiro says and smiles gently to the other, which Shirogane returns.

“Coran?” Lance asks, looking to the advisor which had been in silent conversation with his other self the entire time. Both Corans look up and share a look.

“We have decided that one of us can keep ‘Coran’ while the other uses our second name ‘Hieronymus’!” Coran says proudly, smiling and wrapping an arm around the other Coran in a friendly hug.

“Yeah, so who's who again?” Hunk asks, pointing to each of them individually with a confused crease of his forehead.

One Coran points to himself “I am the Lance.” He says proudly.

The other Coran points to himself “I am Lance-less.” He says just as proud. Together, they each turn their fingers in the others direction. Lance-less Coran speaks first.

“He's Coran.”

Lance-Coran speaks next.

“He's Hieronymus.” The two of them smile happily and shake the other’s hand. Lance smiles fondly, two Corans-that's gunna be a riot. Lance turns to face the only one that hasn't spoken yet and feels his smile drop and eyebrow raise.

“What about you Keith(s)? Any idea about what you wanna be called?” Lance asks. Both Keiths frown and glance to each other.

“I think whichever one of our universe’s we are currently should decide who gets to keep the name ‘Keith.’” Keith says. Other-Keith frowns.

“And how are we supposed to figure that out? Pidge is probably the only one who can find out and they're in the healing pods right now.” The other Keith says. Keith tenses slightly.

“I know that! I was just saying.” Keith says, his voice slightly defensive.

“So you want us to wait for Pidge to get out the pods , _which could take hours_ , just to decide which of us gets to be ‘Keith’?” Other-Keith asked, squinting at Keith and crossing his arms over his chest in the same way he always does when he thinks he's right. _Oh this is golden_ . Lance snickers. Keith can't even get along with _himself_.

“Fine! If you don't care then _I’ll_ just be Keith!” Keith fires back, looking agitated by _himself_. Other-Keith frowns.

“I never said I didn't care. I just said your method was flawed.” Other-Keith points out. Keith is frowning in annoyance and opens his mouth to respond before Lance cuts in.

“Alright, alright as hilarious as watching you argue with yourself is to me, I'm gunna save the day-like I always do.” He says grinning down at both Keiths. Other-Keith has furrowed his brow in confusion and Keith is glaring at him in annoyance. Which, _rude_. Lance is helping him. Least he could be is grateful.

Lance reaches for his gauntlet and opens the storage space, pulling out the quarter he keeps there for his moments of indecision. He holds it between two fingers and lifts it so both Keiths can see. Lance quickly throws it up in the air, watching it spin several times before he catches it in his hand and flips it onto the back of his other hand, keeping it covered. Lance gestures to Keith with his covered hands.

“Call it.”

Keith looks confused for a brief second before responding.

“Tails.”

Lance slowly lifts his hand so only he can see.

“Tails it is. Congratulations _Keith_ , you get to keep your name.”

Keith smiles smugly and looks to the Other-Keith who seems disgruntled.

“So what am I supposed to be called?” Other-Keith asks with slight frown curling at his lips. Lance shrugs.

“We can just call you Akira, that's your middle name right?” Lance offers. Both Keiths turn to look at him in surprise.

“Yeah...but how did you know that?” Akira asks. Lance grins at them.

“I totally read your file when Iverson forced me and a bunch of other cadets to reorganize the online systems after they crashed.” Lance says, still grinning.

“But why would you bother doing that? All stats are posted on the information board?” Akira asked. Lance let out a slight laugh of amusement.

 _“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles”_ -Sun Tzu, The Art of War. I needed every edge I could get against you to take your spot as top pilot.” Lance admits. Akira raises a brow.

“But we’re teammates. Why would you need to compete with me?” He asks, looking completely lost. Lance almost feels bad for him.

“Apparently we were rivals back in the Garrison-but since I was always at the top, it wasn't much of a rivalry.” Keith replied, looking back at Lance with narrowed eyes. Lance let out a high-pitch gasp.

“Hey! You struggled at least little! I was always right behind you in grades and only a couple hundred points off from your scores in the simulator!” Lance exclaims. Keith rolled his eyes, and Lance felt his jaw tense in anger. That _little-_

“How much longer is Pidge going to be in the pods?” Shiro asked, breaking the standoff between Keith and Lance. Coran spoke up first.

“Oh maybe one or two of your Earth ‘hours’ thankfully their injuries weren't too severe.” He said after leaning in to examine the data pad of one of the healing pods.

“Oh in that case, can we all get something to eat? That battle took a lot out of me.” Hunk asks. Tsuyoshi nods in agreement.

“Yeah me too,” he says.

Lance looks around for the first aid box he had set down and quickly picks it up.

“Me three. Plus we can like fix up any bruises and cuts you have because _man_ do you guys look like hell.” Lance says and begins striding forward, beside Tsuyoshi and Hunk as they all make their way to the kitchen. Lance heard the footsteps of others following them and turns the corner to lead into the kitchen, immediately setting down the kit on the counter and gently nudging the sensor holding the plates.

Lance quickly turns, just as the others enter and does a quick tally.

“Three...four...eight...ten...eleven.” He quietly mumbles and bends over to pick the right amount of plates. He sets them down in a stack, taking one for himself and handing two others to Tsuyoshi and Hunk. Lance quietly unpacks the various ointments and sprays out on the counter as everyone gathers their own plates and loads up some goo from the machine.

Lance turns and spots Shiro and Shirogane resting side by side on the counter, curiously watching each other as they swirl their spoon around on their plates. Lance rips open two of the soapy wet wipes in the kit and slides it over to the two of them.

“Here, use them to wipe away the dried blood on your foreheads, it looks like the bleeding stopped anyway but if you need like stitches and stuff then Coran can probably do it.” Lance says to the two of them. Shirogane quietly thanks him and Shiro nods affirmatively.

Lance picks up a tube of ointment that looks like the sparkly blue toothpaste he used to use on Earth and turns to Hunk and Tsuyoshi who are smiling and having a quiet conversation, gesturing to the goo. Lance grabs a flexible applicator and bounces over to their side.

“Alright my Hunky Wunky, where are you hurt?” Lance asked, pressing against Hunk's side inquisitively. Tsuyoshi was staring at him and Hunk with a slightly confused expression. Lance offered him a soft smile and pulled the rubber-like cab off the tube.

“I think just the right side of my jaw, it hurts but I don’t know if there’s a bruise.” Hunk said. Lance nodded and lightly squeezed the tube, watching the thick blue material slowly ooze out. Rolling it out on the white applicator, Lance gently cupped Hunk’s jaw and turned his head to examine the injured area. Lance winced slightly at the large red blotch, stretching up to Hunk’s ear.

“Is it bad?” Hunk asked, a slight hitch to his voice. Lance immediately shook his head.

“Nah. Nothing to lose sleep over, just a little redness.” Lance replied and laid the goop on Hunk's chin, using the flexibility of the stick to spread a thin layer of ointment all over Hunk's chin. After pulling away Hunk's nose immediately wrinkled in disgust.

“Ughh this smells like microwaved plastic.” He whined. Lance snorted.

“I love how you can apply a specific comparison to anything.”

Hunk shrugged and happily returned to his food goo, chewing slowly as Lance laid a clear, film bandage on top of the ointment. Lance turned to Tsuyoshi who had been quietly watching and slowly slid next to him.

“So do you have anything that nurse Lance needs to see?” Lance asked, the edge of a flirtatious tone escaping. Tsuyoshi grinned in amusement and gingerly stretched down the neck of his paladin bodysuit. Lance peered at the area and spotted a smaller red area than Hunk's stretching across Tsuyoshi’s collar bone.

“Yeesh.” Lance winced and deftly applied more goop to the applicator. Reaching for the neck of the suit and pulling it back with his own hands, he quickly spread the layer of ointment and pulled the stick back, holding open the suit and applying the clear bandage with a single hand.

“You're good at this.” Tsuyoshi remarked, softly patting the treated area after Lance pulled away. Lance preened at the compliment.

“Coran’s been teaching me.” Lance announced proudly.

“That I have! Best student I’ve seen in decafeebs!” Coran calls out, pulling away from placing a bandage on Allura's cheek.

“Really? That good?” Hieronymus asks, pulling away from the Princess and placing what looked like a cold pack on her neck.

“What can I say? We are the ones teaching him after all.” Coran replies. Both of them break out into peals of laughter. Lance smiles happily as he collects an instant bandage spray and cleaning patch.

“Alright Keebler it's your turn.” Lance grins, turning to Keith who had been leaning heavily against the counter and idly taking a bite of goo the entire time as he people-watched. Keith turned to Lance and frowned, a suspicious glint in his eye.

“I’ll wait for one of the Corans to finish. Thanks.” He replied, _obviously not_ being grateful for Lance’s offer of help. Lance huffed and put the spray down on the counter harder than he meant.

“Uh you could help me.” Akira offered quietly, looking at Lance nervously. Lance stared at him for a second before picking the spray back up and rounding the corner to him, purposefully bumping into Keith as he did.

“Glad to see you’re not a _complete_ dick.” Lance said, grinning as he ripped open the cleaning patch and carefully began cleaning around the small cuts that littered the right side of Akira’s face.

“ _Ow_.” Akira hissed immediately after Lance applied the pad to his open wounds.

“Oh _oops_ , my bad. I forget to tell you that this might sting.” Lance said sheepishly.

“It's fine.” Akira grunted out with slightly furrowed brows. Lance smiled and began making quick work of cleaning his face, applying slight pressure to get rid of a bit of dried blood by Akira’s mouth. As he slowly wiped around the area he saw Akira's breath hitch, immediately followed by the sound of him clearing his throat. Lance looked up at him, slightly annoyed and saw him staring down at Lance with strangely focused eyes.

“What the hell are you staring at?” Lance asked with a raised brow. Akira flushed lightly and shook his head quickly.

“Nothing! I just...I was just...clearing my throat.” He said sounding as though he’d been caught doing something he shouldn't.

“Yeah? Well knock it off. I can’t do a good job if you're squirming around and trust me- I don't like being this close to you anymore than you do.” Lance replied before roughly returning to wiping away any lingering dirt and blood from Akira's face.

A slight bump near the edge of Akira’s chin had him freezing in place. He lightly brushed the pad over it and Akira's face immediately tightened in pain.

“Look’s like some of the projecting glass might’ve gotten embedded here.” Lance explained and reached over the counter to get the precision tweezers from the kit. Lance slowly lifted Akira's chin and critically examined the area. The bottom of his chin had the entry sight and Lance could see part of the glass sticking out.

“Geez man, why didn't you say anything?” Lance asked and carefully used the tweezers to pull out the chunk of glass. Resting the projectile on a nearby towel. Lance opened a new cleaning pad and began quickly brushing away the droplets of blood that leaked out. Akira winced occasionally and Lance mumbled an apology but kept cleaning until there was no blood in sight. Lance sighed and picked up the spray, pulling it a couple inches from Akira's face.

“Close your eyes unless you wanna feel like someone pepper sprayed you.” Lance says as a warning. Akira immediately screwed  his eyes shut and Lance let the cold stream hit his chin before lifting his finger off the trigger and applying small spritzes to the tiny cuts along Akira's face. Lance pulled his hands away from his face and started packing away the kit.

“Thanks.” Akira says as he carefully touches his face. Lance absentmindedly grunts.

“Sure. But next time if you're hurt just tell someone-no matter how _uncool_ you may think it is.” Lance says as he closes the kit harshly and turns away. Just as Lance moves to leave Akira grabs his arm. Lance whips around, ready for an insult to fly from his mouth but stops when he sees Akira's earnest expression.

“ _Thank you_.” He repeats. “I wasn’t trying to be cool I just...I honestly thought it wasn't a big deal.” He insists.

Lance didn't know what to say. What was he supposed to say? Keith was supposed to give him a sarcastic comment. Lance was supposed to say something about his hair, they'd fight until Shiro or Hunk or someone intervened then go their separate ways. So instead of that Lance just awkwardly turns away.

“Yeah, well...whatever.” He mumbles and quickly goes to sit by Hunk and Tsuyoshi, who were waiting for him with a plate of food goo. Lance happily thanks them and digs in, secretly peeking up at Keith and Akira every so often. Keith is wincing as Coran quickly and efficiently cleans the cuts on Keith's arms and bandages them just as fast. Lance snorts in amusement and hides it behind a hum of agreement as Hunk asks him a question. Akira happens to glance up just as Lance sneaks a look. Their gazes meet and Lance feels his face flush at being caught. Akira also looks embarrassed so when Lance ducks his head down Akira does the same.   Before Lance has a chance to stew in his embarrassment multiple high-pitched beeping sounds fill the room, catching everyone's attention.

Coran and Hieronymus both reach for their data pads and critically examine them.

“Oh!” Hieronymus exclaims. “It seems as though the healing pods are finished.”

“I thought they wouldn't open for another few hours?” Shirogane asked, confused.

“I did as well, the castle must be glitching after what that druid ship did.” Coran replies.

“Druid ship?” Lance asks. “You mean the really glowy one?”

Hieronymus and Coran both nodded.

“That ship was doing something to Blue too. She started wigging out after we got through the wormhole. Then in the hanger she got really moody and didn't want to talk to me anymore.” Lance adds. Coran and Hieronymous both got a pensive look on their face and Lance is concerned for a full second before Shiro draws away his attention.

Shiro claps his hands and looks so strikingly similar to Lance’s first grade teacher when she wanted the class’s attention.

“We should head back to the medical bay and greet Pidge for when they leave the pods.” Shiro says. Lance nods and follows as everyone reloads their plates to be automatically washed. Coran calls it a ‘Teruwyck’ but Lance and the others just called it a ‘dishwasher’ when he wasn’t in hearing distance.

Shiro, Shirogane, Allura, and the Princess all lead the group to the medical bay while Lance hung back with Hunk and Tsuyoshi. Just as they enter the infirmary the pods dissolved their protective glass and opened, both Pidges stumbled out with slight groans. Lance is watching them curiously, because _two_ Pidges, like how would that even go? Who does he hug first? One Pidge stretches their arms above their head and Lance hears a loud _‘pop’_ of their joints.

“Oh man, that _cannot_ be healthy. Pidge you’re like ten how do your joints already sound like that?” Lance asks, lightly concerned.

The Pidge who was stretching immediately frowns and rounds in his direction.

“I’m fourteen asshole! Turning fifteen in like two months!” They exclaim and glare at him before their eyes widened and they immediately look suspicious.

“Who are you?” They ask, their hazel eyes looking him up and down. Lance grins.

“Well I guess that answers that question.” Then he rushes forward and envelops the Pidge beside the one he's speaking to in a sweeping hug. They immediately screech, and Lance thinks his right ear may be ringing.

“Paws off McClain!” They exclaim, instead of listening Lance turns around and addresses Hunk with a serious expression.

“Do it now while they are weak and disoriented.”

Hunk shakes his head in fond amusement and speed walks over, happily joining Lance in squishing Pidge in a hug. Pidge has gone still between them.

“I can get rid of the access codes on your doors and leave them permanently open. Then all of China will know what you do.” They threaten.

Lance immediately drops his hands and backs away.  

“Yeah not risking that, there’s things I prefer to do on my own, in the privacy of my room.”Lance says. Pidge raises a brow.

“Wow. Didn't think that'd work and you’re usually so shameless.”

Lance shrugs.

“I mean…like, I don't mind people watching...but didn't think that was your thing Gunderson.”

Pidge’s face immediately curls into disgust.

“Oh-oh, oh, you are _nasty._ ” They grunt out and shiver slightly. Lance grins.

“Jeez, you got a dirty mind Pidgey.”

“ _I_ have a dirty mind!? _You_ were the one talking about-”

“Knitting.”

Pidge’s face falls.

“I was talking about knitting.¨

Pidge squints at him. “No you weren’t”

Lance shrugs. “Maybe I was, maybe I wasn’t. Either way _you_ can’t prove it.”

Pidge narrows their eyes at him and rather than try to think of a comeback, turns their back to him to face the others. Lance grins and claps them on the back, gripping their shoulders and turning them in the direction of the other Pidge who had been watching silently.

“Thing 1, meet Thing 2.” Lance gladly introduces. Other Pidge raises a brow.

“You know some people could find that offensive.” They point out.

“You love Dr. Suess.” Lance retorts. Pidge shrugs.

“What can I say? The man can make a mean rhyme.” They reply before freezing and turning incredulous eyes to him.

“How do you know that?” They ask, offering him an inquisitive stare. Lance leans forward and rests his chin on the Pidge he’s holding in front of him.

“You used to check those books out whenever we hung out in the library for study group at the Garrison.” Lance replies easily. Pidge shifts from under him, turning to face him.

“You were paying attention?” They ask, sounding surprised. Lance feels a little affronted.

“Pidgey! I certainly wasn’t paying attention to my textbook! I do better when I’m cramming anyway.” Lance replies easily. The Pidge in front of them clears their throat.

“The Galaxy Garrison? You were a cadet?” They ask. Lance releases a heavy sigh.

“To you? No. Apparently you didn’t know me, not even Hunk knew me!” Lance whines. Pidge turns confused eyes to the others.

“He means me.” Tsuyoshi offers.

“It’s a nickname.” Hunk says from behind Lance.

“And speaking of ‘nicknames’...which of you wants to keep the name ‘Pidge’? I was thinking the two of you could fight for it like when me and my siblings ordered pizza and would throw down for the last slice.” Lance says, grinning. Both Pidges glance to each other before shrugging and holding out their fists. Lance ,for a second, actually thinks they’re going to use his idea but instead they just play a single round of ‘rock, paper, scissors’

They both choose rock.

“If you're both the same person, you know, _technically_ , won’t that mean you’ll choose the same every time?” Hunk asks. Both of them pull their fists away and look like they’re considering his words.

“You might be right.” One Pidge murmurs. The other nods. They’re silent for a moment before the other snaps their fingers.

“We could just leave it to chance? Flip a coin? Gives us both a fair shot of 50/50.” Pidge offers.

“I got this!” Lance yells, excited and immediately pulls his quarter out of his slot. Pidge holds out their hand and Lance quickly drops it into their palm. Pidge flicks it into the air before reaching up and snatching it back down.

“Heads or tails?” They ask the other Pidge.

“Heads.” They respond. Pidge looks down at their hand and smiles slightly.

“It’s tails, so I keep Pidge and you are….Gunderson?” They ask. Other Pidge shrugs slightly.

“Sure. Why not? I like that name anyway, chose it myself...or technically, we chose it _ourself_.” They say, grinning at Pidge who smiles back.

“You and me are gunna get along just great.” Pidge replies and turns to face the others.

“Anyone got any goo?” They ask. A low rumble comes from Other Pidge and Lance instantly recognizes the stomach growl from nights of helping Hunk drag Pidge to dinner after they’d locked themselves in their lab for too long.

“I grabbed some of those taffy-goo bar things on my way out.” Hunk says, pulling out a shiny paper covered rectangle that bore similar resemblance to a chocolate bar.

“Yeah me too.” Tsuyoshi says and pulls out a similar bar, offering it to Gunderson. Gunderson and Pidge both snatch their respective snacks and immediately tear into it.

“So wha’ di’ we missth’?” Pidge asks through a full mouth of taffy-goo.

“Well we haven't gotten a game plan yet. We’ve just been treating injuries so far but we should figure out what's going on here.” Shiro says, looking serious and looking around the room.

“Quite right,” Allura begins. “The wormhole had likely been compromised as a result of the druid magic, but that doesn't give very many leads as to how to reverse it-there simply can't be more than a single pilot to the Lions.”

“Yes, the Lions themselves must be in quite the situation. Lance, you said that Blue had been acting unusual when you left the hanger?” The Princess asked. Lance nods quickly, the behavior had been out of the ordinary but Lance had thought that maybe Blue was just trying to flush her systems out of whatever had her all growly. But now that the Princess mentioned it, it also could've been an aftereffect of... _whatever_ was going on. Lance felt a wave of concern hit him. Blue and him had a good relationship, the thought of that being compromised made an uncomfortable feeling settle in his gut.

“G-guys uh...I think that I wanna check on Blue...um, just to make sure she's alright.” Lance says somewhat absently and begins to speed walk in the direction of the hanger.

“Wait, Lance” Shiro calls out and Lance stops in his tracks. “We should all probably go, we might all need to check on our Lions, there's no telling what could've happened. Pidge, Gunderson are you both good to walk?”

Both of them respond with matching hums of agreement. Lance stops briefly and waits for everyone to begin their own trek to the hangers before continuing his brisk pace to Blue. Upon entering the hangar he gazed up at Blue who was sitting up on her own and looking far better than the last time he saw her.

“Hey baby girl.” Lance whispered, smiling reverently up at her. Lance took a small step forward and immediately felt a forceful nudge in his mind. Lance felt the smile slip off his face.

“Blue?” Lance asked hesitantly. Lance felt Blue’s quintessece lightly press against him, seemingly exploring and observing him before quickly retreating. Lance felt the nudge pull away slightly.

“Blue?” Lance asked again. Blue wasn't as hostile as she was before, but she certainly wasn't welcoming, it was as though she was almost...unsure about him.

“Blu-”

“Red what's going on?”

Lance turned around and spotted all the paladins each going up to their respective Lions. One Keith was staring up at Red in confusion.

“Green? What's wrong girl?”

Lance turned and spotted Pidge hesitantly standing in front of their Lion.

“Yellow? Buddy?”

Hunk seemed to be probing his own Lion as well. Lance turned to Shiro and spotted him staring up at Black with concentration painted clearly on his face before his shoulders slumped and he looked down in defeat.

So it wasn't just him….

Lance felt a weight of relief lift from his shoulders.

“The Lions appear to be rejecting the pilots each from a certain Universe.” Allura observed. The Princess beside her nodded.

“Well why would they do that?” Hunk asked, a slight hurt look on his face.

“It could be because they're not _our_ Lions.” Pidge offered.

“What are you talking about? Of course they're our Lions.” Keith said. Pidge shook their head.

“No, I mean...if we're from separate Universes we have separate Lions, it would only make sense for those Lions to be loyal to their respective paladins and if they're not accepting us then we must not be _their_ paladins.” Pidge said.

“Sooo….” Lance drawled.

“That means, now we know who's Universe we're in.”

XxX

“...So like are we just gunna sit here in silence or like...are we gunna figure this out?” Lance asked. Keith sighed from across the table.

“What?” Lance asked, slightly defensive. “It was a legitimate question! What are we going to do about this?”

“Castle scans reveal nothing out of the ordinary, I’ve run checks on Green twice and Gunderson has run checks twice and _still_ nothing has come up.” Pidge says, sounding frustrated from their spot at the end of the table.

“I can’t believe we can't find _anything_ solid on this! It's like we're just shooting in the dark!” Gunderson sighs from their place beside Pidge. Lance spots a movement from the corner of his eye and sits up slightly in his chair, spotting Tsuyoshi approaching him with a nervous smile and a plate with egg yolk-ish looking circles.

“Hey.” Lance greets. Tsuyoshi smiles unsurely.

“H-Hi, um...want a cookie?” He asks holding the plate out for Lance. Lance looks down at it in surprise before grinning and immediately reaching out for one.

“Well don't mind if I do!” Lance happily replies and carefully lifts one of the aforementioned _cookies_. It wobbles slightly as he lifts it and seems to have a consistency between pudding and jello but it smells like cinnamon which is a good enough reason for Lance to dump the whole thing in his mouth and begin chewing. A strange flavor that's slightly acidic begins coating his tastebuds and Lance tries as hard as he can not to wince.

“They taste like...like rotting tomatoes and orange juice had a child.” Lance says, trying to hold back his look of disgust. Tsuyoshi immediately looks panicked.

“Oh my gosh! I must’ve given you the wrong batch! I was making cookies with Hunk and he told me about how you always get first dibs so I brought them out and I-I-I-”

“Woah, buddy it's all right!” Lance insists reaching up to clap Tsuyoshi on the shoulder. “It's not a big deal, Hunk used to use me as a taste tester back at the Garrison it was both the best and worst decision of my life.” Lance says, attempting to comfort Tsuyoshi who loses some tension in his shoulders. He smiles slightly at Lance.

“I got it!” Pidge shrieks. Lance, Tsuyoshi, Keith, and Akira all jump in surprise.

“We’re all essentially the same- the only noticeable difference is Lance!” Gunderson shouts in realization a few seconds after Pidge.

“Subtractions and additions both result in alterations to a distribution! Since Lance is clearly an addition and there appears to be no ‘Lance’ that _you_ know that means that likely we’re the closest to what could be considered the “original timeline” and you could be the alternative one! We were going through a wormhole at the time which creates a bend in space- likely thin enough to push us through universes if you add druid magic!” Pidge says suddenly. Both Pidge’s release matching yells of triumph and high-five the other.

“I’m confused.” Akira says, tilting his head slightly.

“It _means_ that so far our timelines are identical! Both me and Gunderson think almost exactly alike! Hunk and Tsuyoshi have both started cooking together! The Princess and Allura are currently steering the ship to a safer location, Coran and Hieronymus are cleaning up the systems acting out, and both Shiro and Shirogane have been practically bound at the hip! Not to mention that the realization hit Gunderson and me at practically the same time!” Pidge exclaims.

“Lance is the missing puzzle piece!” Gunderson yells, looking excited.

“Our Universes likely have to line up in order for them to properly be their own again, but it can't do that with only a single Lance!” Pidge adds, grinning broadly.

“All of you together, with Lance, make a complete set! You’re a full team, you’re complete-but us on the other hand, _we’re not_ . We’re not whole. Which is why things like leaving it to “chance” fell into your favor in terms of letting you keep your identities! Why out of a 50/50 coin flip both Pidge and Keith got to keep their name! Why Coran, Hunk, Allura, and Shiro all willingly handed over their identities to _your_ Coran, Hunk, Allura, and Shiro. It’s the universe trying to keep their fragments _together_ . That’s another reason _why_ the Lions are rejecting you guys!” Gunderson says suddenly. Pidge is gaping at them.

“ _Holy shit,_ that’s symbolism. That’s like _real-life symbolism._ ” Pidge says, an awestruck expression on their face.

“So what do we do this information?” Keith asks.

“Well duh!” Gunderson says.

“We give the Universe a hand!” Pidge exclaims.

“We get the fragments from mirroring universe together and the science is going to be like _‘well this can't be right’,_ we experience a rupture in space time - which would be us passing through a wormhole like we were before! Then _bam_! Instant Universe fix! We're all back in our proper universes.” Pidge says, smiling smugly. Both Pidge and Gunderson smile broadly at one another.

“There's just one flaw in your logic Pidge,” Keith says, “, _they_ don't have a Lance.”

“We can get one.” Gunderson says, looking serious. The others turn to them in confusion.

“Where?” Lance asked, slightly disturbed.

“On Earth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance is a pretty boy and Akira is just paying his respects. 
> 
> Also huge throwback to Go!Lion!!! I ended up using the real name of that Hunk, which was Tsuyoshi, and Keith's actual middle name in that was Akira! Love that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the team goes back to earth and lance struggles with his feelings of nostalgia, also Akira is losing his subtly because that boy is into hiiiiimmm.

“Okay woah, hold on for a second.” Lance says, feeling as though he needs some clarification. “Are you saying...you want to _kidnap other-me_?”

Pidge and Gunderson share a look.

“Um...well when you put it _that_ way…” Pidge trails off.

Lance squints their eyes at them in slight disbelief.

“Well then what do _you_ think we should do?” Gunderson asks with a raised brow.

“Uhhh, talk to them??? Like a _normal_ person?” Lance asks, slightly horrified that he needs to explain why they can't straight up _kidnap a person off the streets_ ….wait a second.

“Wait, you're _sure_ that you never once saw me at the Garrison?” Lance asks, directing the question to Akira, Gunderson, and Tsuyoshi. Akira shakes his head and continues to stare at Lance with a focused gaze, Tsuyoshi apologetically shrugs, and Gunderson furrows their brows in thought before also shaking their head.

“You're probably the first person I’ve ever _met_ who's named _‘Lance’_ ” Gunderson offhandedly remarks.

“I didn’t see anyone with your resemblance in flight school or at the Garrison.- I would’ve remembered.” Akira offers. Lance resists the urge to glare at Keith and instead scoffs at Akira's words.

“Yeah right. Your _counterpart_ over there didn't even remember me even though _we actually did_ share classes together.” Lance replies before side eyeing Akira who appeared startled at his words. Lance felt a slight  twinge of guilt for snapping at him for his harmless statement. Keith sighed from his position at the table.

“Are you still on that? I thought we had already moved past that stuff.” Keith says. Lance bristles and is ready to throw back a retort when a smiling Hunk enters the room with a plate nearly identical to Tsuyoshi’s.

“Guess what Tsuyoshi and I made!” Hunk announces.

“What?” Pidge asks, sitting on top of the table like some kind of _heathen_.

Hunk's face falls and his brows furrow.

“No, you have to guess.” He insists. Lance grins, feeling his bubbling annoyance melt away.

“Cookies?” Lance offers. Hunk turns his happy smile towards him and speed walks over, holding the plate out for him.

“Correct! And as always, you get first pick!”

Lance doesn't even hesitate to lift the jiggly ‘cookie’ and dump it in his mouth. This time the flavor is more along the lines of pumpkin flan (homemade, not store bought-he’d like to make that distinction). Lance smiles happily and is already reaching for another one when Hunk slaps his hand away. Lance gives him a wounded look but Hunk has no sympathy.

Space has changed him.

“You know the rules-everyone gets one before anyone gets seconds.” He says firmly before sliding the plate across the table to the gathered paladins.

Tsuyoshi eyes the plate Hunk has placed down and subtly nudges the one he was holding away.

“Well at least we know which one is the good batch now.” He says and plops down in one of the seats, Hunk takes the chair across from him and Lance remains standing as the gathered paladins each lift up and inspect the offered confections.

“...So moving on,” Lance begins. “What I mean to say is that if I’m _not_ at the Garrison...then I honestly can't tell you for _sure_ where I _would_ be.” Lance says slowly, moving to sit in one of the nearby dining table chairs. The other paladins turn to him in confusion.

“What do you mean you ‘don't know’ where you would be?” Pidge asks, tilting their head in confusion. Lance shrugs.

“I mean that the Garrison was like my _everything_ . It’s been my dream to be a fighter pilot since I was like, _seven_. If I’m not there I either didn't get in or I didn’t go... and both are equally unlikely.” Lance sighs, tapping his finger against the table and trying to think like...himself and figure out where he could be if he's not training as a pilot.

“Are you sure you’re not just...back home? I mean the Garrison isn’t exactly the easiest place to get into.” Akira says hesitantly, eyeing Lance like he’d bite his head off. Lance already feels drained by the whole situation and decides to ignore the jab, intentional or not, and slowly shakes his head.

“I mean...maybe? But when I made my mind up about becoming a pilot- I signed up for cram school, got tutors, spent every waking moment at the library-I nearly went insane with that stuff...I just-... I guess I’d just like to believe that I wouldn’t _not_ get in...but even if I didn’t get into the North American Garrison I still could’ve applied to the European Branch or the South American Branch…” Lance mused, frowning in thought.

“Maybe...you didn’t apply at all?” Tsuyoshi offers. Lance looks up, eyes shining in slight disbelief. Tsuyoshi shifts uncomfortably.

“You said so yourself that being a pilot was your dream and since everyone knows that the North American Garrison has the best pilot program...it could be a possibility...couldn't it? If you never went to the Garrison you would never have become a paladin and that's the main difference right?” Tsuyoshi says slowly, twiddling his thumbs and glancing down at the table. Lance bit his lip and frowned down at his hands. Lance had wanted to be a pilot for as long as he could remember...if...if that wasn't his dream in _this_ universe...than what was?

“Lance?” Tsuyoshi asked hesitantly. Lance looked up and saw him gazing at Lance with furrowed brows. “I..I uh,..I hope I didn't offend you, I really don't want to imply that-that-tha-”

Lance raised his hand in a calming gesture and offered a soft smile. When he had first met Hunk he had been a bit of a nervous wreck, Hunk hadn't been that way in a long time (mainly because dealing with Lance required Hunk to be the voice of reason in most cases). But... if Lance had never hung around to push Hunk out of his comfort zone than he may have not been as willing to speak his mind or offer his own opinion. Lance felt something uncomfortable begin to settle in his stomach. In an effort to swish the feeling away he squirmed in his seat and looked towards Tsuyoshi, who was eyeing him hesitantly.

“It's all good, like seriously don't sweat it.” Lance assured. “I mean...you could be right-it's a possibility we won't know anything for sure until we actually...go to Earth.” Lance trailed off. “And by the way should we like...talk to Allura and Coran about this? Cuz if we're going to Earth they should probably know this.” Lance points out, still feeling a bit lost and confused considering the lack of information on...himself and also the realization that the relationship he had with Hunk just didn't...exist in this world. Akira and the others nod and stand, pushing away from the table. Gunderson is gathering their laptop in their hands.

“Allura and Princess are on the bridge, Shiro and Shirogane are probably there too so we can tell them about what we've come up with so far.” Pidge says, following Gunderson and Keith as they walk out of the room, Tsuyoshi and Hunk are close behind. Lance is about to follow them but catches sight of the plate Hunk brought in earlier, which contains only a single cookie left.

A smirk curls onto his lips and he immediately turns around to reach for it. Just as his fingers touch the edge, another gloved hand also lays their claim on it. Lance looks up and spots Akira staring back at him with widened eyes. Both their hands are immediately retracted.

Akira is watching him with a pointed gaze. “Do you..want it?” He asks slowly. As though it wasn't obvious through Lance reaching for it that he did. Rather than use words Lance nods sharply and Akira makes a slight _‘oh’_ sound. They both look towards the plate silently.

“Do _you_ want it?” Lance probes. Akira nods and Lance feels himself nodding slowly at the response. Akira loudly clears his throat, catching Lance’s attention, he’s wringing his hands together and isn’t making eye contact with Lance.

“You can have it...if you want.” Akira says lowly, already turning to the door of the dining room before Lance can respond. Lance doesn't know why Akira giving the cookie up to him so easily unnerved him. And it wasn't just the thing itself- it was the principle of the matter. But now that Lance thought about it...he had been sort of a jerk to Akira, treating him the same way as Keith even though they were practically strangers. Keith was more or less a person to avoid verbal conflict (with the exception of Lance) and if Akira thought Lance disliked him he may have been more likely to concede the whole thing. The thought made Lance uncomfortable.

“Wait!” Lance calls out before Akira had a chance to take more than a few steps. Akira freezes and turns to face him with a raised brow. The words on the edge of his lips fail to come out and Lance is just standing there like an idiot with one hand on the plate.

Akira is gazing at him in confusion, glancing down at the plate and back at him.

“Split it?”  Lance offers. Akira meets his gaze with surprise widened eyes before smiling slightly and nodding. Lance quickly reaches forward and awkwardly rips the cookie, offering Akira one of the halves. Akira gingerly reaches for it, his fingers brushing against Lance’s before pulling away.

Akira grins and says a quick ‘thanks’ before eating his piece in one go, and wiping his hand against his pants.

Lance feels a tremor race through his body for some reason he cannot begin to comprehend. It takes a second for Lance to notice that Akira is staring pointedly at the piece in his hand.

“Oh.” Lance says quietly and swiftly shoves the pudding-jello-cookie into his mouth. Akira nods approvingly and turns in the direction of door, walking out. Lance quickly follows after him. The two of them walk in the direction of the bridge, silence settled between them. It suddenly occurs to Lance just how _different_ Akira is from Keith. For one Akira isn’t striding ahead of Lance at a brisk pace, he’s meandering down the halls right by Lance’s side, their shoulders occasionally brushing. Lance doesn't know why but there's something strangely... _intimate_ about this quiet and cool interaction. It’s not an atmosphere he’d ever been in with Keith. And it’s disarming. Because Akira doesn’t rise to the jabs that Lance delivers, it’s almost as though he doesn’t have that same need to one up Lance like Keith does. It’s weird. Lance and Keith interact with each other through that competitive streak, by arguing, and baiting each other but Akira does none of that and Lance just feels like an asshole whenever Akira looks at him in confusion over his preferred method of communication.

“Are you alright?” Akira asks suddenly. Lance startles and throws a glance at Akira who is gazing at him inquisitively with furrowed brows.

“What?” Lance asks. Akira frowns.

“I asked if you were alright. You’ve been really quiet.” Akira points out. Lance’s shoulders tense.

“I’m good I just...have nothing to say to you.” Lance says slowly.

“But you always have something to say _about_ me.” Akira replies. Lance grimaces slightly.

“Yeah...about that…,” he trails off. “I should probably apologize for that...Keith and I have this _thing_ where we just...say stuff like that...to each...other.” Lance finishes quietly. Even to his own ears it’s such a shit explanation.

Akira seems to think the same thing because he just continues to frown.

“Okay…” He says hesitantly. Lance hums and awkwardly rubs both his hands together because dammit this is so _awkward_ and it wouldn’t be if Akira wasn’t so, so, so, _not-Keith_.

Lance picks up his pace a bit and takes longer strides to reach the bridge faster. Akira doesn’t make much of a sound but does speed up slightly in order to continue to be by Lance’s side.

Lance glances at him from the corner of his eye and happens to meet his gaze. Both were trying to discreetly eye the other. Akira opened his mouth to say something but was but off by someone hissing at them as they reached the bridge.

_“What took you so long?”_

Lance looked away from Akira and caught sight of Keith glaring at both of them. Lance scowled.

“None of your business _._ ” He scoffed. Keith’s glare hardened and his frown deepened.

“It is my business if you’re only _slowing us down_ , we all want to get this fixed but how can we? If you keep _goofing off._ ” Keith grit out. Lance narrowed his eyes.

“Listen up you mullet-haired-”

“We were just talking and lost track of time it was an honest mistake.” Akira replied from beside Lance. He was frowning slightly at Keith and occasionally glancing at Lance.

“Keith, it’s alright they’re here now so we can start. There’s no need to yell.” Shiro soothes from his position at the helm. Shirogane is standing beside him and shooting a raised brow at Akira who shrugs at the questioning gaze.

Lance feels a rush of superiority at seeing Keith get scolded for once and happily marches over to his seat, activating his control panel. Keith shoots him a dirty look and sits in his own chair, or technically, Akira’s chair. Akira sees the action and seems to be torn between going over or staying put. Lance watches the internal struggle for all of a second before sighing and scooting over slightly.

“Hey Johnny Lee over here.” Lance calls out. Akira whips around to the sight of Lance invitingly patting the empty space beside him. He eyes Lance questioningly before taking a step closer and squeezing in beside him. The Alteans had obviously designed the seat for a lot of legroom and Lance certainly couldn’t complain but while it would fit two people they would be pressed _very very close_ together. Akira’s shoulders were broader so they dug into Lance’s side uncomfortably, but Lance’s thighs were thicker so his were pressed firmly up against Akira’s. Lance wiggled a bit in place, attempting to find a comfortable position before giving up and resigning to leaning slightly on the armrest.

He caught sight of Pidge and Gunderson smirking in their direction and quickly flipped them off.

“Pidge and Gunderson have given us the basic run down about what they’ve figured out so now we need to decide what we’re going to do when we reach Earth.” Shiro reveals, stepping up from the helm and addressing the room.

“Well isn’t it obvious? We have to look for Lance!” Hunk exclaims. He and Tsuyoshi are both standing up and around their control panel. Lance knows that both of them probably offered the seat to the other but their intrinsic accommodating nature would make it so both just ended up standing anyway.

“Yeah but how? None of us knew him from the Garrison.” Akira points out. He’s breathing right by Lance’s neck and Lance shivers at the unexpected feeling. Akira must obviously feel it because he turns to Lance, looking at him questioningly.

“Well just like Lance said, he could just be in a different branch but we can find that out easily.” Gunderson annonces. Pidge nods from beside them.

“Once we get close enough to an Earth satellite we can backpack off the connection and break into the Garrison’s master database, for the sake of time we’re just going to scramble the system and Shiro can just login with his Instructor’s ID.” Pidge says.

“Now that we have worked out our first moves we can move on to creating the wormhole! Pidge has instructed us to hide the castle behind your planet’s moon, supposedly we will avoid detection from your little Earthling scanners that way!” Coran exclaims, smiling brightly. Hieronymous is nodding approvingly behind him.

Princess and Allura both step up the castle’s command control and each place a hand on the steering orbs. Lance feels Akira shift a bit from beside him and turns to him just as the castle shifts and is guided into the wormhole. Akira is facing the newly fixed projecting glass and watching the swirling blue colors of the wormhole. Lance turns away and faces the front, the edge of excitement just beginning to bubble in his gut. He had missed Earth _so much_ in the weeks? Months? He had been a paladin and now they were going _back_ . Of course Lance knew it had to be a quick visit and a careful one in order to make sure that neither the Galra or the Garrison caught wind of their actions but Lance still couldn’t help but feel a gripping happiness at the thought of seeing the ocean, the rain, maybe even his _family_ again. A huge grin split across his face and Lance began bouncing his knee in excitement, a slight nudge in his gut had him turning to face Akira who was watching him with his head tilted in confusion.

“Are you alright?” He whispered, leaning further into Lance’s space but Lance couldn’t find it in himself to even care.

“Yeah.” Lance whispered back nodding and still grinning brightly. “I’m just really excited to see Earth again, we’ve been away for so long that I just want to see it again, you know? Just once.” Lance said, speaking low enough for only Akira to hear. Akira is staring at him with a strange expression, his eyes are locked on Lance’s face and if Lance squinted a bit he could almost see a light flush developing on his neck. Before Lance had a chance to voice his concern Akira turned away, facing the front and no longer looking at Lance. He grunted and cleared his throat, wiping his hands against the leg of his pants. Lance let his gaze linger for a second before turning back to the front, just as the castle exited the wormhole. They were on the darkside of the moon and Lance shivered in anticipation as Coran brought up a visual of the Earth, it’s soft white clouds and beautiful blue sea all on display from the front monitors. Lance released a reverent sigh and gazed adoringly up at the projection.

“Alright just gimme a sec to get hooked up to one of the satellites.” Pidge announced. Lance was solely focused on the slowly rotating blue planet, not listening as Pidge told Shirogane to enter his information to the Garrison instructor page. He did, however, catch  his name just as Shirogane finished scanning through the master list of students, pending applicants, and rejected candidates.

“Lance isn’t on here.” He said quietly. Lance looked away from the monitor and looked towards Shirogane who was staring down at his dashboard, Shiro leaning on his shoulder.

“Try my full name, type in Lance Charles McClain.” Lance instructed, feeling nervousness begin to overpower his earlier excitement. Shirogane silently types in Lance’s request but shakes his head a few moments later.

“Nothing here either.” He replies looking back at Lance sympathetically.

“What about Lance García? I might’ve used my mom’s maiden name.” Lance points out, his voice just the slightest bit desperate. Akira lays a firm hand on Lance’s knee, squeezing it in a manner probably meant to be comforting but Lance doesn’t notice as he wait for Shirogane’s response. Shirogane looks up and shakes his head.

“Sorry.” He says, brows furrowed in sympathy. Lance releases a shaky sigh and reclines slightly on the seat, his head resting on the backrest of the chair.

“Well what now?” Hunk asks quietly, his face creased in slight concern. Lance releases another sigh and stands up, slowly approaching the front monitor and lowering the holographic image of the Earth with a quick movement of his arm. Lance rotates the sphere until he finds the familiar island and lightly taps on the image bringing up a bigger version on the bow of the ship.

“What is that?” Allura asks curiously. Lance feels a nostalgic smile begin to tug at his lips and turns to face the other paladins who are watching him with questioning gazes.

“It’s my home country, like I said...if I’m not at the Garrison than more than likely I’m _here_.” Lance says pointing at the island nation that he always thought was shaped slightly like a crocodile.

“I’m from Varadero which is riiiight...here.” Lance says pointing at the small peninsula sticking out from the rest of the country.

“So what are we supposed to do with that information?” Keith asks, his arms crossed in front of his chest. Lance narrows his eyes and is just about to spit out a retort when he catches sight of Akira shaking his head subtly, signaling Lance to just keeping talking. Lance doesn’t know why but he does.

“What it _means_ is that we need to go down there and find out what’s up.” Lance replied, side glaring at Keith before turning to face Pidge.

“Pidge do you know what the date is back on Earth?” Lance asks curiously. Pidge nods and quickly types into Gunderson’s dashboard before replying.

“It says here that it’s the 25th of July. Why? Is it important?”

Lance grins and feels himself nod. “That means the house is going to be mostly empty so it should make breaking in much easier for you guys.” Lance says.

“Wait, _“you guys”_ ? Aren’t you going to come with us? I mean this is _your_ hometown you know the layout better than any of us.” Akira points out, his brows furrowed in confusion. Lance grins before responding.

“I mean believe me I would _love to_ but it wouldn’t look good if suddenly there were _two_ Lance’s running around in Varadero and I’m not even _supposed_ to be there right now regardless of whether or not I went to the Garrison. Besides the people there would rat me out in an instant if they saw me, like this one time I skipped school to go see the opening of the new aquarium in the touristy part of town, my mom knew before I even got home.” Lance announced, shivering slightly at the memory of his furious mother pulling on his ear as she demanded an explanation for why Javier, the owner of the barbershop his father visited, had called her about spotting her wayward son _outside_ of school.

“Well what about the rest of us? And what do you mean your house is going to be “mostly empty” and that you’re not supposed to be there?” Pidge asked, frowning.

“During the last two weeks of July Carnival is celebrated in Santiago de Cuba it’s like the most spectacular one of all the Carnivals to celebrate, even more than Havana’s and since it’s the summer, I can go. So a few years back when I was like sixteen, I was finally old enough to go with my older brothers and sisters. We spend like a week there before coming back on the 27th to celebrate my birthday back in Varadero. Me, Marcie, Dulce, Vanessa, Rodrigo, and Marcellus all use it as an excuse to get fucked up without our parents knowing. While we’re away only my parents, my grandparents, and my younger brother and sister are the only ones in the house. But it’s July which means it’s tourist season in Varadero and my mom’s the manager of one the beachside resorts so she’s away most of the day. My dad’s a real estate agent in Havana so he’s not home. My grandpa likes to go down to the bars in town and play cards and stuff with his friends. And grandma likes to take my sister Isabella and brother Andres to the beach and the park so the house is probably empty.” Lance says, finishing with a flourish.

“That’s good.” Shiro spoke first, looking slightly startled by the amount of information Lance had laid out. “We have an idea of how much time we’ll have to get in and out.”

“Yeeeahhhh,” Pidge began, “about that... we only have our paladin armor since...you know this isn’t our universe so _they_ kinda need to be the one’s to change into their normal clothes and actually go down.” Pidge says pointing at all the paladins’ alternate selves as well as Princess and Hieronymous.

“Well I can’t go down, someone needs to keep an eye on the ship.” Hieronymus announces.

“Yeah, I’m out too,” Gunderson says, “ a beachy town with no sunscreen will not end well for me.”

“I think I need to sit this one out too.” Shirogane adds. “The uh...scars and arm might draw too much attention.”

“My shifting abilities will allow me to blend in with the local population but I’m unsure of my capabilities in navigating human culture.” Allura says, frowning unsurely. Lance looks over to Akira and Tsuyoshi. Tsuyoshi is wringing his hands together and looking down at the ground.

“I...I uh...I’m not really good with this ‘undercover’ stuff plus I panic really easily so I..I..I really don’t think I’d be a good fit for this mission” He says quietly, offering an apologetic gaze. Lance smiles reassuringly and nodded, holding up an ‘ok’ sign. Lance turns to look at Akira who has risen from his seat and is staring at Lance.

“Am I supposed to go by myself? How will I figure out where to go? Or what to say? What if someone asks me a question? My Spanish is pretty limited.” Akira says, his brows furrowed at being the only one to go down.

“I believe I can help with that.” Princess announces, turning to Hieronymous and smiling as he immediately typed in an order into his dashboard. A panel on one of the side walls immediately lifted, revealing a series of miscellaneous items. Small pocket knives, extra helmets, lines of glowing cuffs, and what looked with white rimmed sunglasses with darkened lenses. Princess quickly approached and lifted up the sunglasses, turning to face Akira with a bright smile.

“These are typically used for more discreet missions to crowded areas where one cannot be visibly armed, it will provide us with visuals of what you see.” She says offering him the specs before turning around and pulling out a reflective box, small enough to fit a ring. She opens it and Lance spots what looks like a black rubber hearing aid.

“This will allow you to hear our instructions.” She adds, handing him the small piece which Akira immediately fits into his ear before brushing his fingers through his longer hair to cover it.

“Get dressed and go down to the lower deck, meanwhile we’ll enter the coordinates to an escape pod for you.” She instructs. Akira nods and gives Lance one last lingering look before turning and marching out of the room.

Lance turns back to the map of Varadero just as Coran enlarges the image, Lance easily recognizes the layout from his grade school geography class and carefully selects a patch of beach that he knows is typically abandoned due to the amount of litter that gathers there and usually remains until October when the local high school students go down to clean it up for volunteer hours.

“Pidge can you hook up a cloaking device to the pod just for the sake of added security?” Shiro asks. Pidge nods and jumps up from their seat, also leaving and likely heading down to where the escape pods are stored.

Lance is critically studying the layout and is searching for the hill that his house rests on. Thankfully his family lives pretty far away from any neighbors considering his mother’s insistence that he and his siblings have enough space to run around when they were kids. Unfortunately that came with the cost of having a limited pool of playmates while growing up.

Lance finally spots the familiar raised hill, just a ten minute walk from where Akira would be dropped off, he’d only need to cut through a semi busy town square where Lance’s family did their weekly errands. Lance is digging through his memory and planning out the route Akira should take in order to best avoid suspicion when Keith comes up beside him. Lance barely spares him a glance, still partially annoyed.

“What was with that look?” Keith asks, raising a brow in Lance’s direction. Lance feels his irritation flare.

“I didn’t give you a look. “ Lance grunts out. Keith frowns.

“Not you. Akira. He gave you this look just before he left. Why?” He asks. If Lance didn’t know any better he’d even say that Keith sounded _curious_.

“Does it look like I can read minds? How would I know?” Lance sighs, throwing his arms up in exasperation. Keith narrows his eyes at Lance and opens his mouth to say something when Pidge pops up on the front projector, a newly dressed Akira climbing into the escape pod behind them.

“I just finished setting up the cloaking device, it should last him long enough to get through Earth’s atmosphere and touch down on the pre-assigned coordinates. Do you guys have the location yet?” They ask. Lance nods and quickly sends the selected landing site to Pidge’s gauntlet so they can upload it to Akira’s pod. Lance side steps Keith and makes his way back to his dashboard, watching the front projector as it sends an alert of a recently launched escape pod. Lance crosses one foot over the other, leans back, and waits.

XxX

It takes only a few minutes for the pod to reach the empty beach that had been chosen. Lance supposed that they had Altean technology to thank for the fast commute. The visuals pop up shortly after an alert is sent to the castle about the arrival at the designated landing site. The camera on the sunglasses that Princess had given Akira give a view of a desolate beach. Wine bottles, beer cans, fast food wrappers, newspapers, and paper plates are all scattered along the beach. Lance feels a flare of indignation fire up at the treatment of his home town’s most popular attraction. A slight crackling sound catches his attention and suddenly Akira’s voice is projected through the room.

“..ys?,..uys-...Guys?” Akira asks.

“We’re here, we can hear you.” Lance replies. Akira breaths a sigh of relief and Lance sees him begin to move forward, the sound of crunching newspapers underfoot fills the silence.

“What do I do first?” Akira asks.

Lance pulls up a map, a red dot is blinking showing Akira’s location in relation to the rest of Varadero.

“Keep moving East, in a couple feet you’ll see a street directly to your left. After a while you’ll see a bunch of _‘Welcome!’_ signs for the beach, keep moving and once you hit the town square you’ll see a white statue of a man surrounded by a white fence, once you hit that just take the street directly North of it, keep going and eventually you’ll get to my house. Hurry though according to the castle’s monitors it’s already noon there and that’s when the town square will get the most crowded.” Lance instructs. Akira begins moving at a quick pace, Lance assumes he’s jogging and after only a few minutes Lance can see the familiar white statue that he had passed several times on his way to school when he was younger.

As Akira turns into the town square it’s apparent that his brisk pace wasn’t fast enough because the place is packed. Men, women, and children are brushing past one another, all of them entering and leaving stores. Venders are stationed along the sidewalk, one of them is Lance’s favorite ice cream stand that he’d always spend his allowance on. Akira has slowed down and is carefully maneuvering around people. Lance recognizes some but can’t assign names to them. As Akira moves further through the crowd Lance notices a few of the inhabitants of the town shooting him slight looks.

“They’re staring at me.” Akira mumbles.

“No they’re not.” Lance assures. “They’re just wondering if you’re a tourist that got lost. Most of them stick by the beach and the resorts, very few actually venture out.”

Akira picks up his pace and turns North at the statue just as Lance had instructed. Lance looks away from the projection and down to his own monitor, watching as the red blinking dot got closer and closer to his home...the home he hasn’t seen in almost a year. Lance had foregone returning to Cuba for Spring and Winter break because he had wanted to log more hours into the simulator...this was the first time in a long time that he would see his home, and it wouldn’t even be in person.

“Alright I think I’m here, is this it?” Akira’s voice asked through the speaker. Lance looked up and sucked in a sharp breath. His house looked exactly the same...nothing had changed. It was the same two-story rectangular house painted a canary yellow. Akira was standing right by the split-rail fence encompassing the property. Lance could see Isabella's purple bike leaning against the side of the house, it’s silver tassels floating slightly in the light breeze that was likely running through the area.

“Lance?” Akira asked, an edge of concern in his voice.

“Yeah.” Lance croaked out “That’s the one.”

Akira entered through the open gate and began approaching the front door.

“I’m going to ring the doorbell first and hide, I’ll see if anyone answers before going in.” Akira informs them, reaching out to press the round brass doorbell. Directly after hearing the low tone Akira immediately rushed away and ducked around the side of Lance’s house. Lance hears Pidge snickering and turns to look at them with a questioning gaze. Pidge meets Lance’s eye and grins.

“He just ding-dong-ditched your house.” They chortle. Lance releases a snort of his own at the reasoning. Twenty tics go by and no one comes to the door. Akira releases a breath of relief.

“Now what?” He asks.

“The back door is always open you just have to jiggle the handle a little.” Lance informs him. Lance sees the camera move up and down and assumes that Akira just nodded. Akira carefully sidesteps the flowerbeds that his older sister Marcie worked hard to plant and Lance appreciates the thoughtful gesture. Akira reaches the screen door at the back of the house and begins attempting to pull it open.

“No, jiggle it.” Lance says, miming the gesture even though he knows that Akira can’t see it. Akira releases a slight huff and starts to harshly jiggle the handle, a slight creaking sound follows the action and the door swings open with a pull of Akira’s hand. Akira immediately steps inside.

“Make sure to wipe your boots on the mat.” Lance calls out before he can stop himself. Akira freezes and then looks down at his boots, Lance sees him slowly wipe his boots on the _‘mi casa es su casa’_ doormat that he had bought in a moment of humored weakness. Akira slowly walks in, gazing around the living room of Lance’s house. The interior is cleaner than it normally is, probably because a majority of the house’s inhabitants are away. Lance spots the mosaic vase he had made his mom for mother’s day and feels another bout of nostalgia hit him.

“Go straight and around the corner there will be some stairs, once you reach the top, my room will be the second door on your right, there’ll even be a plaque with my name on it.”

Akira immediately follows his instruction and begins going up, taking two steps at a time. He stops in front of Lance’s door and Lance spots orange popsicle sticks forming a rectangle, serving as a border around a white piece of paper with the name ‘Lance’ written in blue bubble letters. It was the same sign he’s had hanging there since he was twelve. Akira’s hand slowly reaches out and tightly grasps the doorknob, slowly turning it. Lance feels a ball of anxiety begin to wad up in his throat because the last he recalled of his room back home-he’d had an unspeakable amount of Garrison posters taped all around his room, glow in the dark stars littered his ceiling, models of spaceships rested on his nightstand, and there was even a framed picture of Shiro on his desk-he hoped to god that Akira didn’t notice it or Lance would literally combust out of sheer embarrassment.

Akira pushes open the door revealing….a room that looked nothing like the one that Lance had left on Earth. The blue bedsheets and yellow curtains were exactly the same but the room lacked all of his space related memorabilia. In it’s place were collages of what Lance presumed were his hometown friends only he recognized _none_ of them. They were of varying ages, genders, races. Lance had no idea why he would take pictures with random people-sure he took selfies fairly often but those were for his own enjoyment.

Akira carefully stepped into the room and began looking around. Lance spotted several posters on the wall, strangely enough they featured ice skaters and dancers rather than space and ships. A sports bag was lying in front of his closet and Lance was about to ask Akira to open it when the sudden slam of a door had him and everyone in the bridge freezing in place. The distant sound of children speaking in rapid spanish was heard vaguely through Akira’s microphone. Lance instantly recognized the voices of his two younger siblings.

“ _Shit!_ ” Akira hissed and immediately moved to quietly shut the door to Lance’s room.

“Alright calm down!” Lance breathed even though he could feel his own heartbeat begin to speed up at the sudden turn of events. Akira’s camera was quickly scanning the room, not settling in one place for long, Lance could practically feel his panic through the camera. Lance catches sight of a bright orange reflective rectangle sitting on his desk and instantly recognizes it.

“Akira grab my phone! It’s right on my desk, hurry!” Lance urges. Akira turns to Lance’s desk and in two large steps reaches the aforementioned desk and snatches’s Lance’s phone up, it disappears for a second and Lance assumes he’s stashed it in one of his side pockets.

“Okay go to the window over my bed, but be careful okay? My mattress is creaky.” Lance instructs calmly despite the anxious trembling of his hands. Akira carefully approaches and Lance grimaces as he steps onto Lance’s bed with his dirty boots. Akira shoves open the window and carefully pushes away the shells that Lance had likely laid there as decoration.

“Go out feet first, on your right is a gutter that runs down the side of the house but don’t worry, it’ll hold. I’ve used it to sneak out of the house a million times.” Lance says, watching anxiously as Akira slowly pushed himself out of Lance’s room and began climbing down the side of the house. Once Akira's feet touched the ground he immediately bolted from the house, raced down the street, into the crowded town square, past the beach’s _‘Welcome!’_ sign, and back to the escape pod, all without stopping. Once in the pilot’s seat Akira began releasing harsh breaths and deep gasps for air, clearly audible from his microphone. Lance winced in sympathy.

“ _That...was...terrifying_.” Akira gasped out.

“More than fighting Galra?” Lance asked, attempting to lighten the mood. Akira grunted slightly and placed both hands on the pod’s controls, activating the homing signal, and lifting off from the beach rather than answering.

“I’ll see you guys when I get back.” Akira responds and releases a deep sigh, the connection cuts out shortly afterwards.

Lance slumps back in his chair and gazes up at the ceiling. His heart was still pounding, for more than one reason because...that looked _nothing_ like his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next time the team finds out what became of other-lance and begin to seek him out, also our baby Akira makes a move.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the team finds out more about other-lance and keith shows how in some instances he's more green than red.

Lance and the others are waiting for Akira in the hanger when the pod slows to a stop. Akira immediately jumps out and Lance can see a light flush on his cheeks, his bangs sticking to the sweat of his forehead. It must’ve been a hot day down in Varadero. Akira begins digging into his side pockets and fishes out Lance’s phone, holding it out to him. Lance gingerly grabs it and critically examines it. There’s a carbon copy of it (save for a few nicks and scratches) on his bed back in his own Universe’s castle.

Lance quickly tapped the screen and smiled when the phone immediately came to life. This Lance’s background was a selfie of him and his two younger siblings, both of them sitting on his lap and showing off toothy grins to the camera. Lance let a fond smile creep across his face and immediately clicked on his contact information. Predictably all his siblings, parents, and grandparents were listed, but there was one number he didn’t recognize-one that was under the name of “coach”. Lance _didn’t have_ a coach. In fact, he hadn’t played sports since he was fourteen (the Garrison wasn’t exactly brimming with extracurricular activities). So whoever this new contact was obviously had something to do with the path that Other-Lance had chosen. Lance scrolled through his contacts once again and frowned at the lack of phone numbers. Lance at least had Hunk and Pidge’s numbers in his phone but this Lance didn’t have a single friend?...That was actually...really sad. There was also the matter of the missing ‘service’ signal, it looked like Other-Lance’s phone was out of service. Why? He had no idea. But it explained why it had been sitting around his room with no Lance in sight which already sent out warning signals since Lance never went _anywhere_ without his phone. Lance was typically really good at taking care of his things but there wasn’t anything visibly wrong with the phone. Maybe Other-Lance had gotten the newest model? He had heard that a new version of the Holo-phone was supposed to have dropped sometime this year.

Lance released a slight breath and looked up at the gathered paladins.

“There’s not much that I can get from the phone, all my contacts are here, with the exception of Hunk and Pidge and a number I don’t recognize.” Lance said, silently handing it back to Akira who frowned and looked down at the object now in his hands.

“Coach?” He asked, sounding confused. Lance shrugged.

“I have no idea who it could be. Maybe a coach from the local High School in Varadero? But I was only into Baseball, Swimming, and Track back before I got into the Garrison.” Lance offered. Akira nodded and frowned down at Lance’s phone.

“What about your photos? There might be some stuff there.” Keith piped up, inching closer to Akira who nodded immediately afterwards and made to tap on the ‘photos’ icon. Lance smacked it out of his hands before he had a chance.

“ _You don’t look at another man’s photo album Keith!_ ” Lance shrieked, glaring at the Red Paladin and brushing past a startled Akira to pick his phone up from where it had clattered to the ground. Lance quickly bent down and held it to his chest, turning to face the (judging) raised-brows of his team. Lance turned to the side and tried to view his phone’s album as inconspicuously as possible. He only managed to look through three photos, two of which were of his siblings at the beach and one of his mother in the garden, when Keith managed to wrestle it out of his hands. Lance immediately tried to get it back, even going as far as to begin clawing at Keith’s hand, which was pinning him back while his other hand quickly scrolled through his phone.

“Oh come on Keith!” Lance begged. “We all take weird photos! Now give it back!”

Keith ignored him and continued swiping through before abruptly stopping. Lance let out a slight whine of humiliation. Keith turned back to look at him, his eyes widened in surprise. Lance wanted the floor to swallow him up.

“You’re a dancer?” He asked incredulously.

That...was not what he was expecting to hear.

Lance tried to get a glimpse over Keith’s shoulder and spotted Other-Lance smiling brightly at the camera, wearing a short-sleeve black shirt, dark leggings, and...were those ballet shoes?.

“Huh.” Lance said in slight surprise. Keith let his arm down and stopped pressing it against Lance’s chest. The others began crowding around Keith.

“Bro I didn't know you did Ballet!” Hunk exclaimed from across the circle they have formed around Keith.

“I don't, or well _technically_ I don’t.” Lance manages to say while trying to peek over Keith’s shoulder.

“Technically?” Pidge asks, gripping Keith’s wrist and forcing him to show the picture to the others. Allura, Princess, Hieronymus, and Coran looked especially interested.

“Vanessa wanted to try it out but didn’t want to be by herself so dad forced me, Dulce, and Rodrigo to sign up with her so she wouldn’t be alone. She lasted like four months before she lost interest. I kind of liked it but only because me and Rodrigo were the only boys in the class and he’s about as smooth as sandpaper so you know? More for me.” Lance shrugged, smiling at the memory of the various girls in his old Ballet class complimenting him on his form and asking him to help them with their lifts. He almost stuck around for the dance recital later that season but dropped out after the Garrison began running commercials about the Astro Explorer program and instead devoted his time to learning more about Outer Space and using the telescope his grandma had bought him for his birthday. Lance shook himself out of his reverie and leaned closer into Keith’s side, peeking over his shoulder to see him continue to scroll through Lance’s phone.

Many were obviously selfies, Other-Lance was shooting a teasing smile into the mirrors of a gym, a dance studio, and an ice rink? Lance froze and leaned in closer over Keith's shoulder, his cheek brushing against the other boy’s as he squinted at the picture of Other-Lance throwing a peace sign at a mirror within what was obviously an ice rink, it's reflection behind him clearly seen.

“There’s no ice rinks in Varadero.” Lance pointed out. Keith shivered under his hands and Lance continued leaning forward and further into Keith. Lance hoped it bothered him, it’s what he deserved after searching through Lance’s phone like he was a distrustful, controlling parent. Lance frowned speculatively and began reaching for his phone, whining when Keith pulled it further out of his reach. Akira reached out and snatched it out of Keith’s hand, offering it back to Lance who gave him a large grin in return. Lance hip checked Keith and strode to the center gathering of the other paladins and Alteans. Lance scrolled quickly through a few other photos, many of them within what looked to be the same ice rink as the first picture. Lance stopped at one photo and let out a slight whistle, a smirk coming to his face. Akira was the closest by his side and Lance turned the phone in his direction, grinning broadly.

“Look at my ass in this picture.” Lance ordered. Akira’s eyes flickered over the offered phone and flushed a slight red, all the way to his ears at the sight of Lance posing with his back to the camera and his butt and thighs wrapped in tight, _tight_ yoga pants. Lance grinned and ‘liked’ the photo, his smile widening when he realized it was already ‘liked’.

“So if Lance is done admiring himself…” Pidge began, their judging eyes still on Lance.

“We can move on and hopefully track down...Other-Lance...should we just call him McClain? It seems a little redundant to call him _Other-Lance_.” Gunderson offered. Lance silently handed the phone over to Gunderson who began critically examining the various ports on the phone, probably wondering if they had the right cables to hook it up to their computer or data pad.

“The phone’s out of service.” Lance said, shrugging as he did so. Gunderson made a slight grunting sound.

“That’s okay. We don’t need service unless we’re making calls.” They point out. Pidge silently hands Gunderson their laptop which they had been holding the entire time. Gunderson and Pidge both plop down on the floor of the escape pod hanger and Lance feels that it’s only appropriate to join them, going down a second later. The others soon follow his example and pretty soon everyone is sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the floor. Gunderson extracts a cable that was already attached to their laptop and connects it to Lance’s phone, setting both on their lap and then focusing on the screen of their computer.

“Okay well according to your phone all those ice rink pics were taken in the same place. The Winter Sports Complex in Havana.” Gunderson informs them. Lance feels his brow raise in disbelief.

“But that place is only for professionals.” Lance says, slightly incredulous.

“Do you know it?” Akira asks curiously, sliding closer to Lance and tilting his head inquisitively. Lance nods absently.

“Yeah. I went on a tour there once with my dad and siblings when he wanted to show us his workplace and we ended up just taking a tour of the city.” Lance says. “But that’s where professional hockey teams, figure skaters, skiers, and speed skaters train-the place is _huge_ and it’s got like a dozen ice rinks.” Lance says, recalling the words of their eccentric tour guide. Lance had personally found it only somewhat interesting, winter sports weren’t really his thing. In fact he and Winter didn’t really mix, he’d choose water in the liquid form over frozen any day.

“If it’s a place only for professionals then there’s gotta be an info page on their website about the groups that use the Complex.” Pidge offers. Gunderson grins and begins quickly typing into their laptop, likely connecting to the nearest satellite and looking up the Sports Center.

“Nice. They have an _‘About Our Members’_ page.” Gunderson announced. There was some quick tapping of their laptop’s keyboard before they eventually grinned broadly and turned their laptop screen to show the others.

Lance leaned in slightly and observed the head shot of McClain. His hair was the same cut as Lance’s, but McClain’s two side bangs were slightly longer and curled against his cheek. He was grinning at the camera with a confident smile, his blue eyes sparkling happily. On his visible torso he was wearing a sky blue full-zip jacket that was closed up his neck. It was a good picture, Lance would admit that- but then again he was typically a very photogenic person so at least the two of them shared that in common.

In bold letters, Lance’s full name was written beside the picture with a short description accompanying it. Lance didn’t get a chance to read the first sentence before Gunderson pulled the laptop away and began reading aloud for everyone.

“Lance Charles McClain is a competitive figure skater representing the Republic of Cuba. Born in the resort town of Varadero he began competing in domestic competitions at the age of nine and moved on to international competitions at the age of fourteen, earning several medals at home and abroad during his Junior career. He won Junior Worlds prior to debuting to Seniors, where he earned two Grand Prix assignments but missed out on qualifying for the GPF, placing Top 10 at Europeans and Top 15 at Worlds for his first year. He is now placed in the Top 5 since last season's Worlds and is shooting for a medal at the Olympics since qualifying for the 2126 Winter Olympics. He has a bright future in skating and has earned his place as one of Cuba's top atheletes.” Gunderson read out, eyes widening as they finished the short description. Lance could relate because _what the fuck_.

“ _I’m a fucking professional athlete in this world?!_ ” Lance asked incredulously, because he needed a minute. Okay? Lance didn’t know much about figure skating so he had no idea whether the ‘Junior Worlds' or 'Grand Prix' was good but dammit the Olympics? _Everyone_ has heard of the Olympics and McClain was gunning for them? No scratch that-McClain had actually _qualified for them?!_ Lance knew he was good, and he had confidence in his skills but figure skating was _not_ one of those skills. Give him a ship? Sure he could pilot it for you. Give him a gun? Name a target and he could hit it. Give him a sentient Lion Cat and destiny to save the Universe? He would question why you chose him first but he’d do his damn best. Figure skating had never even been on the radar! He’d tried it _once_ in the rink at Rockefeller Center when he and his family had traveled to New York to visit his Aunt and extended family for a reunion but he’d fallen flat on his face, gotten a nosebleed and called it quits then and there. The stars had always been far more interesting and he had no _idea_ what could’ve sent McClain down the path he had evidently chosen.

Lance noticed the room had been silent for far too long and looked up to see everyone (with the exception of the Alteans) staring at him with stunned eyes. Lance raised his hands in innocence and shook his head.

“I have no idea. Don’t look at me because I have no _freaking_ idea.” Lance said, still a bit stunned about the recent information.

“I’m not sure I quite understand what is going on.” Princess said, tilting her head in confusion. Shiro cleared his throat and began speaking.

“It’s a human sport-several people will face off in skating competitions, earning points for various things like technical skills, choreography, and stuff like that. The better your routine and more impressive it is then the more points you earn. Of course my explanation is a very watered down version- I only know the very basics of the sport.” Shiro sighed.

“And what is ‘skating’?” Coran inquired, his eyes gleaming in curiosity.

“Well basically the..arena in which the skaters compete is a frozen ground and the competitors dance and jump on said arena using these things called ice skates which are-”

“Knife shoes.” Akira interjected, eyes glittering. Lance snorts slightly and turns to face the Red Paladin, a smile creeping up on his face.

“...Yes.” Shiro said carefully. “They are-in essence, shoes with sharpened blades at the bottom.”

Allura, Princess, Coran, and Hieronymus look slightly horrified.

“And you do this for sport?!” Princess asked incredulously, turning her horrified face to Lance. Lance shrugged.

“Me? No. McClain? Apparently. Besides there’s other incentives too. There might be a genuine interest and if you make it onto the podium I think you receive cash prizes? But I’m pretty sure the cost of competing and traveling to said competitions is something that’s mainly covered by sponsors or something. I’m not entirely sure.” Lance shrugged.

“Wait a second!” Gunderson pipes up before the conversation could continue further. “I was digging up some more information on McClain so we could actually find him and according to his social media he posted a picture two hours ago in the Winter Sports Complex.” Gunderson offers. The others begin to crowd around their laptop.

In the picture a sweaty, red faced McClain is resting on a bench, away from the ice along side what look to be other skaters and is smiling down at the phone, likely having taken the picture himself. It has the caption “Coach is such a slavedriver he’s finally given us our first break in hours!!!!!!!  ʕಡ﹏ಡʔ But don’t worry dudes I’ll survive. I’ll survive for you. #lancemcclain #figureskating #unbreakable”

Gunderson suddenly snorted and scrolled down slightly. “Look the first one who commented was his mom.” Pidge let out a similar snort and leaned in to read what Lance’s mother had commented.

“Awwww she wrote ‘Te ves bonito mijo ❤ ’” Pidge snickered. Normally Lance may have felt a bit indignant at the prodding but instead he leaned in closer, looking at the text his mother had written and felt a soft smile begin to creep on his face. The comments following hers were a mix of Spanish, English, French, and other languages he didn’t immediately recognize-but Lance paid them no mind. He felt happiness begin to bubble in his chest at the sight of his mother’s heartfelt compliment. She was cheesy like that- commenting on all her children’s social media and normally Lance found it embarrassing but this time he let it slide. Mainly because he had begun to miss that about her.

“So there’s some good news and bad news- I put all of McClain’s posts through a pattern detecting software in my computer and it looks like he posts pretty often. Often enough for me to get a rough idea of his daily schedule. So that’s good. But the downside is that he’s _almost never_ alone. Apparently he lives with his coach in Havana so we can’t just sneak in like we did before, and also he spends a lot of time with the other members of the training center-the place has their own gym and dance studio which is where the other photos were probably taken and McClain uses them with his choreographer pretty often. The only time that I can see that he’s alone is from 6-9am when he warms up on the ice and does individual practice with his coach-if we can draw away the coach or McClain then we can get him alone.” Gunderson says, grimacing slightly as they looked down at what was presumably McClain’s schedule.

“Damn this boy is busy. When does he find the time to use the bathroom?” Pidge comments, glancing over Gunderson’s shoulder at McClain’s schedule.

“We could wait till the weekend.” Tsuyoshi offers, leaning over Gunderson and at the schedule on their laptop. “It says here that he usually takes that time to visit his family back in Varadero.”

Pidge immediately shakes their head. “No can do. There’s no telling what could happen the longer doubles of each of us stay here but my guess is that it can’t be good.”

Shiro nods from beside them. “Pidge is right we need to convince McClain to join us as quickly as possible. But it looks like we’ll need to wait until morning to do it. Lance you may need to head down with Akira in order to get McClain to believe us.”

Lance looks up at Shiro and furrows his brows. “You want me to convince McClain to come up with us?” He asked.

Shiro nodded affirmatively.

“It may be the only way that he’ll actually believe us. Afterall he doesn’t know any of us and has no reason to trust us but maybe if he sees you he may be more willing to listen.”

Lance is stunned for a moment but that is quickly overcome with excitement and he wordlessly nods. Lance had been half convinced that he wouldn’t get a chance to go down to Earth, he’d attempted to cover the hurt by making jokes and reminding himself that people would recognize him but the opportunity that Shiro had just given him was more than he could’ve wished for. Lance feels his grin stretch across his face and begins jiggling his crossed legs in excitement.

“Wait a minute Shiro.” Keith interjected. Lance felt his smile became strained at the sound of Keith’s rising doubt.

“Lance only has his armor, he can’t exactly go down dressed like _that._ ” Keith points out. Lance looks down at himself and hates to admit, but Keith is right. Lance had removed the top half of the paladin armor, leaving him in only the black bodysuit and the armor on his thighs and legs. Lance can feel his happiness begin to dim but is stopped when Princess speaks.

“There are plenty of spare clothes in the castle. I’m sure we can find something to fit.” She says, smiling gently at Lance. Lance grins back at her before turning to Keith and offering a haughty smirk which Keith rolls his eyes at.

“Alright now that we’ve settled that- we should all retreat to our rooms for the night so that we can get started tomorrow.” Shirogane says, rising from his position on the floor and shaking out his numbed limbs.

“Yeah but who gets the room...I mean there’s two of each of us.” Hunk says, furrowing his brows as he glanced around the room.

“I don’t mind sharing the room with Gunderson.” Pidge says, shrugging.

“I don’t mind much either.” Shirogane says, looking towards Shiro who returned the shrug.

Allura and the Princess simply smiled at one another. Coran and Hieronymous held up an individual ‘thumbs up’.

“I like my privacy.” Keith says simply, glancing at Akira who returned the look.

“Me too.” He replied.

“That’s fine.” Allura piped up.

“Yes.” Princess agreed. “There’s plenty of spare rooms in your wing of the castle. Just pick whichever one you like.”

“I like _my_ room.” Keith says, the slightest bit of a challenge in his voice. Akira immediately frowned and turned to face him fully.

“So do I. And it actually happens to be _my_ room.” Akira says, a slight scowl marring his features.

Lance raised a brow, looking between the two of them. The tension was so thick you could practically cut it with a knife. Someone should probably say something...but that someone was not Lance.

“Have fun figuring it out! I’m going to bed!” Lance said happily, clapping Tsuyoshi and Hunk on the shoulder as he happily skipped out of the hanger and away from the drama brewing between both the Koganes.

XxX

Even though Lance’s room was supposed to have been never touched considering that McClain had never actually _entered_ the castle there was a surprisingly ‘lived in’ feel to the room. Lance didn’t know why and couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Maybe it was because he had become so used to the room that it was just the impression he got from it? Whatever. Lance didn’t care enough to actually find the answer and just resigned to stripping off the rest of the armor and his bodysuit. Leaving him in only his blue boxer briefs. His skincare supplies that he painstakingly hand mixed and tested out on himself were all back in the other castle so he had to settle for simply going to bed rather than going through his nightly routine of cleanser, exfoliator, toner, mask, and serum.

Lance sighed, somewhat unhappily, and lifted the blanket off the bed, laying down quickly and covering his mostly naked body with the soft blanket. He tried closing his eyes and letting his mind drift him to sleep but he kept clenching his fists in excitement, thinking about going down to Earth in the morning. Lance huffed and turned on his side, attempting to find another position that might work. It didn’t. Lance felt his frustration begin to toil inside him. He _wanted_ to sleep but his brain wouldn’t let him-it was running a mile a minute, wondering what the air would smell like. Would it be hot? Would it smell like a busy city? Would there be vendors? Maybe he could convince Akira to take a detour and stop by a pizza parlor or ice cream stand somewhere-they were plentiful in a tourist attracting city like Havana. Or maybe they could find a family restaurant run by locals for locals where they could get some classic tamales-it would be the closest thing to home cooking he would get considering he couldn’t actually _go home._  Lance felt a pang of pain in his chest at the thought and squeezed his eyes closed, willing away the tears that were beginning to leak out. He may not be able to go home but he could at least _see_ home. It would be enough. It _had_ to be enough.

The sudden sound of his bedroom door sliding open had Lance shooting up in surprise. Akira was standing in the doorway, staring at Lance with an equally surprised expression.

“What are you doing in my room?” They both asked simultaneously, Lance’s significantly more hostile.

“I-uh...this is my room.” Akira said slowly, brows furrowed in confusion.

“Uh noooooo?” Lance said, drawing out the ‘o’. “This is _my_ room.”

Akira frowned and stepped into the room, ignoring Lance’s protests, and headed to the closet across from the bed. Akira pushed the button on the wall and Lance watched the closet slide open to reveal Akira’s Red paladin armor. He turned back to Lance, raising a brow.

“I choose this room the first night we were in the castle.” Akira said. Lance sat up further, not noticing Akira’s widened eyes at the sight of his bare torso, and planted his feet on the ground. Lance opened his mouth to argue before freezing and thinking back to the first night on the castle ship. Keith had wanted the room they were currently in because it was closest to the training deck. But Lance wanted it because it was equal distance from the bathroom and kitchen. A single round of rock-paper-scissors left Lance the room and Keith with the _second_ farthest room from the training deck. Lance had been King for a day when he realized he had beaten Keith. But no McClain that first night meant...Akira had gotten the room unopposed. Lance let his mouth click shut.

“Well I was here first.” Lance argued.

“I haven’t washed those sheets since we first arrived.” Akira replied. Lance leaped up from the bed, screeching slightly.

“ _What!?_ ” He screamed. Akira’s eyes fixed themselves on Lance’s body, his face flushing a deep crimson.

“You’re supposed to wash bedsheets every _two weeks_!” Lance screamed, already racing for the closet where extra sheets were stored. Lance pulled them out and turned back to the bed where a smirking Akira was now sitting smugly. Lance dropped the sheets.

“That was a lie wasn’t it?” Lance asked weakly. Akira’s grin widened and he nodded.

“You seem like the type to get really worked up about that stuff.” Akira offered. Lance narrowed his eyes on Akira as he kicked off his boots and made himself comfortable under the sheets. Lance bent down and picked up an extra blanket and pillow that he had ripped out of the closet. Lance approached Akira and began climbing in beside him, ignoring the surprised sputtering. Lance planted the pillow down beside Akira’s head and began nudging him closer to the wall. Lance threw himself down and sighed happily as he finally covered himself with the extra blanket.

“What are you _doing_?” Akira hissed, his face was glowing a bright red and he looked embarrassed. Lance smirked, if there was one thing he was good at- it was gay chicken. Akira would leave eventually, Lance just knew these things.

Lance shrugged, pretending to be remarkably blase about the situation. “It’s my room too and I’m not leaving.”

Akira sputtered and looked at Lance with wide eyes.

“If you want to you can leave.” Lance said, smirking dangerously. Akira swallowed thickly, his face redder than a cooked lobster.  
“N-No” He choked out. “I’m fine. I’m staying” He said and laid back down. Staring up at the ceiling with a determined gaze. Lance grimaced and muttered under his breath. He had been so _sure_ it would work.

The two stayed silent, practically ignoring the other’s existence as the night began to drag on. Eventually the light of the room shut itself off, likely a response to Coran or Hieronymous putting the castle on its ‘night shift’ mode. The room was bathed in darkness and Lance’s sight was limited to what he could see from the blue lights on the wall.

Lance sighed softly and relaxed his tensed shoulders. He’d shared a bed with people on multiple occasions but none made him feel as weird as sharing one with Akira did. And speaking of Akira...Lance never got a chance to ask him what Varadero was like. Maybe he could tell Lance and...ease his nerves a bit.

Lance took a slow breath and shakily let it out, shifting his legs and letting them brush against Akira’s. Lance huffed and turned on his side, facing Akira. Akira’s eyes were closed but his breathing was uneven and quick so Lance knew he was faking.

“Hey,” Lance whispered, nudging Akira’s shoulder. Akira’s eyes shot open and he turned his head to look at Lance.

“Yeah?” He whispered back, leaning in closer. Lance bunched the fabric of the blanket in his hands and looked away from Akira, feeling slightly embarrassed about what he was going to say.

“What...what was it like?” Lance asked quietly. Akira’s brows furrowed in confusion, he opened his mouth to speak, probably to ask what Lance was talking about but Lance cut him off before he could.

“Varadero! I’m talking about Varadero...like...was the air dry? Did it smell like the ocean? Was it hot? Was it cloudy? Sunny?” Lance asked quickly, firing one question after the other. Akira’s eyes were wide and staring at Lance in surprise. Lance felt his embarrassment rise, his cheeks felt hot so in an effort to save face he quickly turned back around, facing away from Akira.

“Nevermind! It was dumb, just ignore what I said I was-”

“It was surprisingly windy.” Akira said suddenly and Lance flinched in surprise. Akira waits for a second before continuing.

“The air smelt really salty by the sea, and not as much the closer I got to town. The sun was really beating down but it wasn’t really that hot, there was a lot of shade because a bunch of vendors and stores had umbrellas set up.”

Lance felt tears begin to gather in his eyes and buried his face in his pillow, listening silently as Akira continued to recount his experience in Varadero.

“There were a lot of palm trees-or well I think they were palm trees but I don’t know. I’m not too good at botany.”

Lance let out a wet laugh at that comment, giggling slightly and muffling the sound in his pillow. Lance felt Akira shift from behind him and begin to press into Lance’s back, his hand touched Lance’s shoulder.

“Are you alright?” He asked. Lance could hear the concern in his voice and nodded rather than respond.

“Mmhmm.” Lance hummed. “I’m just...really homesick.” He whispered, trying to hide the sniffle he couldn’t hold back. Akira is silent for a moment and Lance hopes that it means he’s dropped it but then shaky arms begin to wrap around his chest, pulling him back to Akira. Lance is frozen like a deer in the headlights. Akira’s arms are tight for a minute before they begin to loosen their hold.

“What...what was that?” Lance asked, still baffled, Akira shifted uncomfortably behind him.

“It was a hug.” He finally said. “I was comforting you.”

Lance didn’t know what surprised him more. The fact that Akira had wanted to comfort him. Or the fact that Akira had just given Lance the shittest hug he’d ever received. An offended gasp from behind Lance makes him realize he accidently spoke out loud. A soft punch to his back led Lance to release a slight giggle, which was followed by _more_ punches from Akira, leading to _even more_ giggles. The cycle continued until Akira too devolved into light chuckles. Lance grinned and wiggled around to face Akira who grinned in return. Akira’s eyes were scanning Lance’s face, his eyes absorbing all his features. Lance smiled tiredly, finally feeling the exhaustion of the day catching and turned on his back to stare at the ceiling.

Lance eyes began to droop down and barely registered Akira shifting closer and laying his head down on Lance’s shoulder before he lost consciousness.

XxX

Lance was the last one to wake up and arose to an empty bed.

There was dried drool on his shoulder and Lance grimaced in disgust-he thought that he’d trained that away when he stopped sleeping with his mouth open because drooling was _not_ attractive. And Lance always worked extra hard to make sure that he _was._ Natural good looks could only take you so far after all.

Lance kicked off the blankets and stretched, catching sight of a folded stack of clothing  and a pair of dark boots at the foot of the bed. Lance curiously picked them up and carefully examined them-one was a sleeveless black turtleneck that looked like the same material as their paladin suits except thinner and the other was a pair of dark blue loose pants that tapered off at the ankle. There was no note so Lance figured it had been Akira who brought them.  He was, afterall, the only other person who knew they had shared a room the night before.

Lance began pulling on the clothing, reminding himself to wash the drool away when he went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Lance quickly finished pulling on the shirt and rushed to the bathroom, completing his business before speed walking to the dining room where everyone else likely was.

It seemed like Lance was once again last, because he was the only person missing from the table when he finally arrived. Akira looked up and caught sight of him, offering him a small smile and gesturing him over to the empty seat beside him. Lance couldn’t think of a reason to reject the offered space and plopped down beside Akira. Hunk smiled at him from across the table and pushed him a plate of food goo.

Lance had been mid-chew when he realized Keith had been calling his name. Lance looked down, to the other side of Akira, where Keith was seated.

“What?” Lance asked, after swallowing the mouthful he had.

“I said I’m going down with you and Akira to get McClain back to the ship.” Keith responded. Lance raised a brow.

“Won’t that look suspicious? There’d be two of you.” Lance pointed out. Keith rolled his eyes.

“Twins are a thing that exist. You know that right?”

Lance narrowed his eyes at the patronizing tone.

“Geez, what crawled up your ass this early in the morning?” Lance shot back, annoyed. Keith looked ready to argue when Shiro pointedly cleared his throat and Keith fell silent without another word. Lance scoffed, still mildly annoyed and quickly finished his goo before standing up abruptly.

“I’ll be waiting down by the emergency escape pods-come down whenever you’re done.” Lance said, not directing his words to anyone in particular.

Lance was halfway to the hanger when he heard quick footsteps coming in his direction. Lance lazily turned his head and spotted Akira quickly approaching him.

“Hey.” Lance greeted.

“Hi.” Akira returned, nodding. The two of them swoftly arrived to the pod and climbed inside, Akira sitting at the controls.

“Do you know what was up with Keith at breakfast?” Lance asked. “I don’t think I’ve done anything to warrant his bitchy attitude this early in the day.” And Lance really wasn’t looking to start something anyway, today was supposed to be a _good day._ He was going to see Earth again.

Akira shifted awkwardly in place and made a slight noise before responding. “I think it’s my fault...he kinda...caught me sneaking back into my...your... _our_ room to drop off the clothes that Coran chose.”

Lance raised a brow. “That still doesn’t seem like a good enough a reason to be all...dickish.” Lance said, sitting up straighter and turning to Akira who was watching him warily.

“And what about you? How come you’re always so mellow compared to Keith? Which, by the way, is a word I never thought I would associate with either of you _._ ” Lance said, leaning back against the passenger seat. Akira is watching him with furrowed brows.

“I don’t really know...I mean Keith always seems so... _lively_ around you” Akira offers. Lance feels something similar to hurt pulse in his chest.

“So Keith’s a dick because of me...that’s nice.” Lance says blandly. Akira tightly clenches the ship’s steering wheel and the two sit in silence for a long moment. Akira seems to hesitate for a moment before reaching out with one hand, Lance is watching the approaching limb in confusion before it occurs to him that Akira was probably going to try to offer one of his subpar hugs.

“What are you doing?” A suspicious voice suddenly cuts into the silence. Lance looks around Akira and spots Keith and the others entering the hangar, Keith is speed walking to the pod and Lance rests his head on his hand and quietly watches Keith approach.

“Nothing.” Lance responds, watching, as Akira lowered his hand and Keith climbed into the pod, forcing himself between Lance and Akira. Normally Lance would be ticked off and yell at Keith to get in the back because there was no room but now be felt strangely...unwilling to start an argument-just for the moment. He was going back to Earth and that’s what mattered-not starting some bullshit argument. All he had to do was survive the ten minute ride through Earth’s atmosphere. Eyes on the prize.

Pidge came up to the pod and plugged in their gauntlet, loading on the coordinates for the landing site which would be some abandoned lot a few blocks away from McClain’s Winter Complex.

“Okay the three of you need to keep an eye on each other and also make sure you put in your earpieces and those glasses things so we can hear and see you.” Pidge instructs handing them a medium sized box, likely containing the said equipment  for each of them. “Gunderson and I will tap into the cameras inside and warn you about any security. You’ve got 35 minutes before McClain is supposed to arrive. We’ll call his coach’s phone and send him away. You need to try to convince him to come with us in that time. If not we resort to plan B.”

Lance frowns slightly.

“What’s plan B?” Lance asked suspiciously. Pidge grinned.

“Princess flies down with Blue and McClain does that spiritual connection stuff!” They say happily. Lance suddenly feels lightheaded.

“Y _ou can’t bring a mechanical Lion cat down on an entire city Pidge!_ People would lose their shit! The _army_ would lose their shit!” Lance exclaims, crawling slightly over Keith and Akira to speak frantically to Pidge's face.

“Well then I guess you better not mess up plan A because I was already given the go-ahead by Allura sooooooo- Good Luck!” Pidge says happily, waving at them as the ship left the hanger. Lance leaned against the seat and stared wide-eyed down at the dashboard in front of him. The ride is silent, it’s only until they're entering the atmosphere that Keith begins to speak.

“So I heard you two spent the night in the same room.” Keith says tensely. Lance is sticking with his original plan of choosing happy and away from conflict so he says nothing.

“Yeah, we did.” Akira replies. Keith bristles from beside Lance.

“I would’ve thought it’d be better for you to spend the night in a _different_ room...for the sake of comfort.” Keith says slowly.

“I would have as well. But I happen to _like_ the room.” Akira replies, his jaw clenched slightly

“Well you can’t _like_ the room because you can’t _keep_ the room.” Keith replies, side glaring at Akira.

“So what if I can’t keep the room? Does that mean I’m not allowed to _enjoy_ the room?” Akira fires back. It’s the most spirit Lance has seen from him thus far. Lance might even mention it if he wasn’t so goddamn _confused_ by their argument.

“Yes!” Keith exclaims. “That’s exactly what it means! Because I _wanted the room first!_ So you can’t enjoy the room!” Keith spits out aggressively.

“Well you never said that you _did_ and _maybe_ it’s the first time I’ve ever liked a room so maybe, _just maybe_ I want to enjoy it for a little longer!” Akira says acidly and Lance is just so _lost._

“ _Holy Shit._ ” Lance breaths out. “It’s just fucking _room._ ” Lance says incredulously because _what the fuck_.

They all sit in a tense silence, thankfully no one brings up the room again, and they land swiftly in the empty lot. Lance immediately jumps out of the pod and breaths in the fresh air of an early morning in Havana. It smells crisp and it is the _greatest_ smell that Lance has ever smelt. Lance stretches his limbs and looks around at the nearby buildings-he doesn't know what they each are but they’re all beautiful. A nudge in his side has him turning to face Keith who is holding out an ear piece and a pair of specs. Lance quickly puts them and can practically feel himself shift to ‘mission mode’.

Lance leads the way out of the lot and begins striding down the street, smiling brightly at the other early morning risers. He doesn’t need the digital map displayed on the inside lenses of the specs, he’s been to Havana numerous time and while he may not have memorized the city he did know where some of the more famous landmarks were. Few cars were out yet and Lance knew that would change as more and more people began emerging from their homes. The morning had a slight chill and Lance borderline skipped down the street as they began more closely approaching the Winter Sports Complex. If Lance was being honest he was pretty nervous about meeting McClain-sure they were the same person. But that meant that Lance knew better than anyone just how stubborn he could be. Lance was so deep in thought he didn’t notice they had reached the end of the sidewalk, but Lance just kept walking and harshly bumped into the person patiently waiting for the light to change.

The person in front of him was thrown forward suddenly and Lance gasped in surprise, immediately reaching out to pull them back onto the sidewalk, babbling out apologies as he steadied the person. The teenager he had bumped gave a light laugh and waved off the apologies.

The voice was familiar.

Incredibly familiar.

Lance looked up, his wide blue eyes hidden behind darkened sunglasses, and gazed into a carbon copy reflection of his own face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly hope that tamales are eaten in Cuba-i've heard that they are but i'm not sure. my mom only ever made them during christmas because they taste better if you hand ground the corn for it (but that process is suuuuper long so it's saved for special occasions like christmas or graduations). But maybe mexican tamales are different from cuban tamales? I have no idea. my knowledge of latino foods are limited exclusively to mexican since that's what I am.
> 
> -I would like to point out that it took me forever to think of a name for the training center McClain uses-it was at least an hours worth of thinking time.
> 
> finally next time we meet McClain-the man of the hour and lance attempts to sweet talk himself.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lance comes to the wrong conclusion and tries to convince mcclain to join their outer space club

Lance was frozen. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. _Of course_ he knew that the time to confront McClain would come eventually, but he was supposed to have _two more_ city blocks to psych himself up for it. This surprise meeting of absolute chance while waiting for the light to change was so earth shattering for Lance that rather than respond or move, or _do something_ \- he instead quietly watched McClain cross the street. Eventually losing sight of him in the crowd. Lance felt like his limbs were made of lead and stumbled away from the edge of the sidewalk, leaning against the wall of a nearby building.

“Lance?” Akira asked, confused. Pulling away from Keith and carefully approaching him. Lance wasn't surprised that neither of them noticed McClain even when he was _right in front of them_ because the two had been having a staring contest since they left the lot.

“What’s wrong?” Keith asked, coming closer and frowning down at Lance, where he had hunched over and gripped his knees.

“Guys what’s going on? Why’d you stop?” Pidge asked through the earpiece. Lance took a shaky breath and straightened up, gazing across the street to see if he could catch sight of the brown haired teen again. But It didn’t work, the streets were becoming flooded with people starting their day and McClain was long gone. Pretty soon the town would become congested with people ambling down the sidewalks and cars honking their way to their destination. Havana was the capital city and was always much louder than Lance’s smaller resort home town which only became packed during tourist season.

“ _Lance!_ ” Keith said urgently, shaking one of his shoulders. Lance looked up, huffing slightly and pushing away from the wall.

“Well that didn’t go at all like how I planned it in my head.” Lance sighed. Keith’s face scrunches in confusion.

“What are you talking about?” He asks.

Lance doesn’t get a chance to respond because Akira comes bounding up to his other side and presses a cold water bottle to his cheek. Lance shrieks in surprise and shock at the sudden temperature change, vaulting back and knocking into Keith. Akira is holding out the opened water bottle for him, a concentrated expression on his face.

“Drink.” He orders. Lance raises a brow at the action but reaches out with his hand to grasp the offered bottle anyway. Lance takes a quick swig and then looks back to Akira to see if he was satisfied.

Akira smiles slightly and nods before speaking.”I thought maybe the heat was getting to you.” He offers.

“Thanks, but it wasn’t the weather.” Lance says, looking back at the street which had already changed lights once again. Akira and Keith both turn their heads, scanning the area.

“What did you see?” Keith asks, suspicion and paranoia practically dripping from his tone. Lance sighs and stands closer to the edge of the street.

“McClain was just here- I bumped into him and almost had a heart attack.” Lance says plainly. Both Akira and Keith freeze.

“He was _here?_ ” Keith asked, frowning. Lance nodded.

“Right here. Waiting for the light to change and cross the street. I don’t think he recognized me because of these.” Lance said, gesturing to the glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose.

“ _Hellloooo?_ ” Pidge asked through the coms, sounding particularly impatient.

“What’s up?” Lance asked, slipping away from the gathered crowd of people waiting at the curb.

“Well it’s nice to finally get a response from one of you.” Gunderson replied, sounding a bit sarcastic. Lance winced and murmured an apology.

“While you guys were talking Pidge managed to get a livestream of the security footage inside the Winter Complex and nearby facilities, it looks like McClain has already made it inside. We can distract his coach for an hour but you need to get there fast-we’ll tell you how to dodge the guards they got stationed around.” Gunderson says. Keith and Akira both give out matching sounds of understanding and soon the three of them are standing side by side at the curb with a growing group of people. Lance releases a slight huff and anxiously watches the stoplight dangling in the middle of the busy street. Akira nudges his hand and Lance turns, giving him an inquisitive look.

Akira offers up the still partially full water bottle. “Want some?” He offers. Lance smiles and shakes his head before frowning in thought.

“Where did you get that?” Lance asked, pointing to the bottle. Akira looked over his shoulder and Lance followed his line of sight, spotting a food truck parked towards the end of the block. Lance turned back to Akira, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“How did you pay for it? None of us have any money.” Lance points out. Akira stares at him with wide, innocent eyes. Lance claps both hands together and rests them against his lips.

“Alright. You can’t _steal-_ ”

“The light changed. Let’s go.” Keith says suddenly, grabbing Lance’s wrist and pulling him forward. Lance stumbles slightly and looks over his shoulder to see Akira rushing to keep up. Lance tugs slightly on his wrist but Keith has it in a tight grip and is maneuvering them quickly through the incoming crowd of people.

“Slow down mullet head!” Lance hisses. “ Or we’re going to lose Akira in the crowd!”

Keith huffs a laugh and says something that sounds like _“good.”_ Lance frowns and opens his mouth to speak again but is cut off when Akira pops up on his other side, smiling at Lance and narrowing his eyes at Keith who is pointedly ignoring the glare and is moving them quickly through the streets- all while avoiding bumping into people which Lance thinks is a real accomplishment.

“Pidge are we getting closer?” Keith asks as the group of three reaches the end of the street and are stuck waiting for another traffic light to change.

“Should be right across the street, the GPS satellite I highjacked only has a bird’s eye view of what’s going on-but it looks oval...ish? From above it looks like it’s made of glass since it’s clear but I don’t know what it looks like from your perspective.” Pidge replies. Lance shakes Keith’s hand off his wrist and steps closer to the curb to get a closer look at the vaguely familiar rounded building. He’d been inside only once for the tour and his clearest memory of the event  was buying a soda from the vending machine across from the boy’s bathroom which...wasn’t particularly helpful for navigating the interior- but he _does_ know that there are little pamphlets with maps of the entire Complex in the ‘Visitor’s Section’ which...he can’t get to...because he looks identical to McClain...well shit just got a whole lot harder.

Lance releases a slightly exasperated sigh and speed walks across the street the second the light changes. Once on the other side Lance clearly sees the ‘Guest Entrance’ less than fifteen feet away and turns to Akira and Keith who are standing directly behind him.

“Alright we’ve hit a bit of a roadblock.” Lance begins, gesturing to the double glass doors a few paces away. “I’m literally walking around with McClain’s exact face so if _I go in there_ and these people _recognize_ me then we are going to be in some deep shit so one of you has to go in there  and swipe a map from the Information desk or something and meet us in the parking lot which is...somewhere around here.” Lance says, turning around and looking down both sides of the street, searching for any sign that may indicate a ‘Visitor’s Parking Lot’. He knows for sure that there is one because he distinctly remembers parking somewhere underground and then taking an elevator up to the main floor with a bunch of other tourists.

“Akira can go.” Keith says, breaking Lance out of his thought bubble. Akira begins raising protests but is ignored when Keith grabs Lance’s hand and pulls him away, leaving Akira with no choice but going in to retrieve their much needed map of the complex. Keith drags Lance around the corner of the building and leads them in an almost complete circle before finding the entrance to the parking garage. The two slowly walk down the slight incline and into the darkened lot, which is nearly entirely empty-likely due to the fact that it’s still relatively early. The quiet is almost suffocating so of course Lance needs to break it.

“So...what’s going on with you?” Lance asks, eyeing the tight hand on his wrist.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Keith replies. He’s staring straight ahead and avoiding Lance’s eyes. Now Lance and Keith may not be the closest of friends but Lance does know him well enough to know that he’s _hiding_ something. So Lance calls bullshit.

“ _Um_ I call bullshit?” Lance replies, raising his hand as though they were still in class. Keith is staring straight ahead at the elevator they are steadily approaching.

“But seriously you’ve been acting weird...or well weird _er_ than usual so what’s up my dude?”Lance asks curiously, swinging the hand that Keith is holding.

“ _Nothing_ is up.” Keith replies and turns to lean against the wall beside the elevator while the two wait for Akira to catch up. Lance squints at him disbelievingly and situates himself in front of Keith, leaning his face in close enough to feel Keith’s suddenly hitched breathing on his face. Keith’s purple eyes stare into his eyes with a wide, startled gaze at his sudden proximity.

“You’re lying.” Lance says simply, bumping his nose against Keith’s. Keith looks so _shook_ and Lance is enjoying every second of it because usually, it’s Lance who loses his cool first when the two argue (which is so unfair because _Keith_ is supposed to be the hothead).

“I’m going to list stuff and you tell me whether I’m close. Alright Loser McGeek?” Lance says, smiling and putting his finger to his chin in a ‘thinking’ pose.

“Let’s see...you’ve been pissy ever since we got stuck in this whole Clash of the Universes, you always lash out when Akira’s nearby, and you seem to have a sudden obsession with rooms all of a sudden.” Lance is pacing back and forth in front of a nervous Keith who is eyeing him hesitantly. Lance suddenly freezes and turns back to face Keith, his face splitting into a grin.

“Could it be that these moodier-than-normal swings are due to our near and dear friend Akira?” Lance asks, creeping closer into Keith’s space and leering at him. Keith has narrowed his eyes and is pressing his lips together, looking completely unwilling to confirm or deny any of Lance’s claims. Lance’s grin widens.

“Awwww could it be that someone has a _crush_?” Lance mocks lightly, poking Keith’s cheek. Keith turns a furious red and looks to the ground, away from Lance. Lance pulls away and smiles at Keith who has begun to open and clench his fists repeatedly in what could only be embarrassed frustration.

“I get it man.” Lance admits, backing up a bit and holding his hands up in admittance. Keith’s head whips up and stares at him with huge eyes.

“You...you do?” He asks quietly, almost astonished. Lance doesn’t know why.

“Totally.” Lance nods seriously. “I mean have you _seen_ those pictures of McClain.” Lance says, whispering conspiratorially. Keith’s face loses it’s growing wonder and instantly transforms to confusion.

“Wait _what_?” He asks. Lance nods as though Keith hadn’t spoken.

“Like _my god_ his _ass._ Being attracted to yourself isn't weird!” Lance insists, pretending to swoon and using his hand to fan himself. “The only butt I know that’s tighter than his is Shiro’s. Like seriously he could probably crack a walnut between those cheeks.” Lance says and mimics squeezing motions with both hands. Keith is staring at him with an astonished expression as if he can’t believe the words that just came out of his mouth.

“I can’t believe the words that just came out of your mouth.” Keith says, a slight look of disgust on his face.

“Neither can I” Pidge grumbles from their headsets and the realization hits Lance like a bucket of cold water...that the others heard what Lance just said...which means that Shiro heard-.

“What an amazing guy Shiro is!” Lance says loudly, and somewhat unnecessarily. “Always looking out for us and making sure we keep our heads on our shoulders and I for one absolutely _do not_ objectify him for that would be an awful thing to do!” Lance says robotically and with a slight squeak to his voice. The coms are silent and Lance thinks he’s going to have a heart attack when Pidge finally responds, with an amused voice.

“Shiro and Shirogane both left to workout or something together on the training deck, they’re like total workout bros so don’t worry he didn’t hear your spiel about his ass.”

Lance’s shoulders sag in relief and lays a hand over his heart because he just dodged a freaking _bullet_ in the form of the judging gaze of Shiro which is always a relief. A hand clamps down on his shoulder and  Lance shrieks in surprise, whipping around to face an equally shocked Akira.

“ _Jesus Christ_ don’t just sneak up on people!” Lance exclaims, slumping over slightly and breathing harshly. Akira raises an brow and offers Lance a folded up Visitor’s map.

“The Info desk was mainly empty and tours don’t start till the afternoon so I think that we can get around without being seen.” Akira reports as Lance unfolds the map and searches for their current location.

“Pidge do you know where McClain is right now?” Lance asks as he looks at the various numbered rinks on the map.

“Yeah. Right now he’s in the locker room right by rink #11. He went inside four minutes ago and hasn’t come out yet.” Pidge replies. Lance quickly scans over the map and grins when he realizes the rink is just a corner turn away from the elevator once they get to the main floor.

“Well looks like this might be easier than I thought.” Lance says and turns to press the call button for the lift. It ‘dings’ open almost immediately and Lance skips in, followed closely by both Keith and Akira who are forced to stand side by side while Lance selects the correct floor. The elevator moves with a hum and the three are thrown into silence as they patiently await to be brought to the correct floor. Lance side eyes his companions and sees that there’s a good foot of space between them-the two are keeping away from each other as much as they can. Lance smirks deviously and pretends to stretch his arms out, then shoves Akira into Keith as his arms go out. Akira lets out a surprised grunt and falls into Keith’s side, who hits the wall of the elevator.

“ _Watch it_!” Keith hisses and pushes Akira back, straightening the dark Altean jacket that Coran lent him. Akira bumps into Lance, gripping his hip to prevent from shoving Lance into the other wall. Akira lies against Lance for a few moments before straightening up and making no attempt to move back out of Lance’s space. Keith notices and turns a sharp glare at Akira who is now ignoring him.

“There’s plenty of space in the elevator, you don’t _have_ to stand so close together.” Keith points out through gritted teeth.

“I can stand wherever _I want!_ ” Akira retorts fiercely and leans against Lance’s side. Lance opens his mouth to protest the infringement of his personal bubble but is cut off by the opening of the doors and happily steps out. The tension in the elevator was so thick that you could probably cut it with one of Keith’s many knives. Lance peers around both sides of the corridor and quickly steps forward going towards the end of the hall and waiting at the corner.

“Pidge is he still in there?” Lance asks quietly, the corridor is still empty but that doesn’t mean anyone can’t show up at any second.

“Yeah.” Pidge replies and Lance nods, turning to Keith and Akira who were waiting behind him.

“Alright what’s the gameplan?” Lance asks. Both Keith and Akira’s faces scrunch up in identical displeasure.

“You mean _you_ don’t have one?” Keith asks. Lance squints at Keith.

“How...how would... _what_ would I even say?” Lance asks incredulously. “I’m supposed to be the tipping point but one of you needs to talk to him, ease the info in ya know? So that when _I_ show up he won’t flip out and call security.” Lance says in a low voice.

“Let’s just go up to him and explain what’s going on.” Akira says as though it was the simplest thing in the world. Lance doesn’t get a chance to respond before Pidge interjects.

“The seagull has left the nest!” They exclaim, excitement clear in their voice. Lance quickly peeks around the corner and spots McClain with headphones on, nodding to the music and carefully walking down the hall in _their direction_ . His stride is slow and Lance knows he’s just _a few paces away_ , getting closer, but he has no freaking _clue_ what to- where is Akira going?

Lance is too slow to stop Akira who side steps him and begins walking in the direction of McClain who looks up as Akira stops in front of him, blocking his path.

“ _Akira_ !” Lance whisper-hisses. “ _What are you doing!?_ ”

Keith has moved closer and is pressing his chest against Lance’s back, resting his chin on Lance’s shoulder as the two watch the train wreck about to happen.

McClain breaks out into a smile and carefully removes his headphones, stuffing them in his pocket.

“Hi!” McClain greets happily and grins at Akira who is frozen in place.

“Are you looking for an autograph?” McClain asks, already taking out a marker from his pocket. That seems to snap Akira out of whatever reverie he had.

“What?” He asks, confused. McClain continues smiling, and gestures to himself.

“An autograph.” He repeats. “Or maybe a picture!” McClain digs into his other pocket and fishes out a dark orange holophone, unlocking the screen and pulling Akira close. McClain smushes their faces together and grins up at the camera when it flashes then releasing Keith. McClain ‘awws’ down at the photo and appears to be tagging it as he speaks out loud.

“Just met a fan before starting morning practice! He’s so cute just look at that hair! #lancemcclain #fanphotos #figureskating #...” McClain stops and his brows crease in thought before turning back to Akira.

“What did you say your name was? I wanna tag you in the photo.” He says. Akira’s eyes are still widened in confusion.

“Uh it’s Aki-I mean Keith! My name is Keith Kogane.” Akira says, stuttering slightly. McClain nods and mouths his name before posting the photo and shooting a bright grin at Akira, clapping him on the shoulder.

“Well it’s always nice to meet a fan! Especially one as cute as you.” He says, winking at Akira as he maneuvers around him. “But unfortunately I have to get to practice or else my coach will murder me in my sleep!” He sings and moves to bounce away but Akira grabs his wrist before he can. McClain freezes and turns a tense smile back at Akira.

“Wait! I didn’t come here for that!” Akira exclaims, his face a light pink. McClain raises a brow. Akira takes a shaky breath and stares back at McClain with a look of renewed determination. Meanwhile Lance is about to have a panic attack a few feet away.

Alright. Alright. Alright, it’s _okay_ . Keith was _decent_ at being human so it’s not like Akira could be much _worse_.

“You’re one of five pilots to Robot-Lions that come together to form Voltron, the most powerful weapon in the Universe.” Akira says seriously. McClain’s brow raises higher and Lance wants to cry.

“Uhhhhh.” McClain says. “Is...Is...Is that like...a new meme or something?” He asks, his face creased in befuddlement. Akira’s face twists slightly.

“What? No. I mean you _literally_ pilot a giant Robot-Lion and we go around saving planets and fighting this guy named Zarkon” Akira says insistently. McClain is silent for a long time before slowly speaking.

“So...I’m one of these Robo-Lion pilots?” He begins.

“Yeah.” Akira replies.

“And it comes together..with other Robo-Lions to form something called...Voltron?” McClain asks.

“Yes.” Akira nods.

“And it’s...the most powerful weapon in the Universe?” McClain reiterates. Akira nods in confirmation. McClain is silent for a moment before smiling softly.

“Alright...So you’re insane, got it.” McClain says while extracting his hand from Akira’s grip and crossing both arms over his chest.

“No listen! It’s the truth and I can prove it!” Akira says and turns around, catching Lance’s eye as he peeked around the corner. Akira made a ‘come here’ motion with his hand. Lance slid up the wall and sighed deeply, mentally preparing himself before turning the corner, Keith following hot on his heels.

Lance stops in front of Akira and McClain.

“Aaaaannnd this proves what, exactly?” McClain asks. Lance breaths deeply through his nose and then whips the sunglasses off his face in what he hopes is a dramatic way. McClain freezes and takes a step forward in Lance’s direction, leaning in close to analyze his face. Lance’s shoulders are tensed as he’s being scrutinized because _what the hell_ ? What the hell is he supposed to do _now?_ Rather than think on it any longer he just opens his mouth and says the first thing that comes to mind.

“Hey baby are you lost?” Lance blurts out. McClain looks up into Lance’s eyes and raises a brow.

“Uh...no?”

“Because I think that heaven is missing an angel.”

McClain’s eyes widen and he is speechless for a full second before a grin splits across his face.

“Are you a magician?” He asks, blue eyes shining brightly. Lance feels his shoulders lose some of their tightness and shakes his head, a similar grin to McClain’s creeping across his face.

“Because abraca _DAMMNN_!” McClain exclaims, gesturing to Lance’s body. Lance feels giggles begin to bubble and soon breaks into full blown laughter, McClain joining him shortly afterwards.

The two stare at each other with barely suppressed grins.

“You know what?” Lance begins. “How about you and me go get some Cubanos huh?” Lance asks, nudging McClain and pointing his thumb in the direction of the exit.  McClain slowly blinked at him in what Lance guesses is astonishment. “And maybe some non-alcoholic Mojitos?” Lance adds, smiling charmingly. McClain was speechless for a second before he snorted and grinned back at Lance.

“My nutritionist would _kill_ me if I did.” McClain replies, raising a brow at Lance in clear amusement. Lance grins.

“That wasn’t a no.” He sing-songs.

McClain laughs and offers Lance his elbow, which Lance happily accepts.

“No it wasn’t.” McClain replies. Together the two walk side by side in the direction of the exit.

Lance doesn’t know how Akira and Keith were faring considering the two had been uncharacteristically silent during the exchange but assumes the two would catch up to them soon enough. McClain leads him out a side exit that leaves them just around the corner from the main entrance.

“Over here should be good.” McClain says, gesturing to a line of venders and food trucks all stationed along the street. “I’ve never tried it but I’ve heard good things from some of the coaches.” McClain says. Lance nods and hangs back as McClain orders and pays for both of them (what a _gentlemen_ , which wasn’t a surprise considering that Lance was the classiest person he knew).

Both Lance and McClain plop down on some nearby steps and rest their tired legs. Lance immediately digs in (he hasn’t had Earth food in months he deserves to eat as messily as he wants). The taste is just as good if not _better_ than he remembers-the pickles are nice and crisp, not soggy on the bread. The ham is a thick cut but tears away easily. The cheese is still gooey, and the bread has a nice crunch as he bites into it- _god_ he had missed home. Lance swears he let out a few moans as he ate, finishing quickly, _far too quickly_. Lance glances at McClain who’s only taken a single bite so far and is picking apart the sandwich-removing the cheese and pickles. Lance raises a brow, watching McClain dissect their favorite after school snack.

“Is something wrong with it?” Lance asks. McClain looks up and meets his gaze.

“Ugh no.” He sighs and lays the foil wrapped sandwich on his knee. “It’s just that I’m only supposed to have some non-fat yogurt and granola if I want a snack. My coach is really strict about my diet.” He sighs and looks down longingly. Lance is silent for a moment and then stands up, making a show of looking down both sides of the street.

“I don’t see a coach anywhere around here.” Lance shrugs. “Do you?” He asks, turning back to McClain who sits blankly for a moment before grinning.

“No. I don’t.” He replies, smiling. Lance shrugs.

“So then all you have to do is say that...it fell into your mouth.”

The two share a matching smirk and soon McClain is digging in happily, and more importantly- with no regrets. Food is only fun if you enjoy it.

As soon as McClain is done he stands up and skips to a nearby trashcan, disposing of the evidence. Lance follows him and soon the two are standing in silence. Lance is unsure of how to move from there but decides that bringing up what Akira had been saying is better than sitting in silence.

“Soooo...about what my awkward friend with a mullet said.” Lance begins.

“I believe you.” McClain says.

“I just want you to keep an open-wait _what?_ ” Lance sputters.

“I believe you.” McClain repeats.

“...You...You do?” Lance asks. McClain nods and turns to face Lance.

“There’s only one person on Earth with a face like _this_.” McClain replies, grinning as he runs his fingers lightly over his own face. “There’s only one Lance McClain.”

Lance is shocked into silence for a second before letting out a snort.

“But just to be sure…” McClain begins, eyeing Lance a bit suspiciously. “Tell me something that only _I_ would know.”

Lance stops and puts a hand to his chin. “Something only we would know…” Lance begins, thinking out loud. He suddenly snaps his fingers in realization and turns to McClain, grinning unnervingly. “Alright so there’s one thing that _I know_ absolutely no one knows.”

McClain raises a brow and makes a ‘go-ahead’ gesture. Lance smirks.

“One time mom bought us a pair of girl’s underwear by mistake. They were pink with little bows on the side and out of curiosity we tried them on,” Lance begins. “and you know what?” Lance leans in to whisper in McClain’s ear. “ _We kinda liked it._ ”

McClain freezes and flushes a deep red before coughing.

“Okay, okay I believe you.” He says quickly, pushing Lance slightly away. Lance grins savagely, excitement brimming under his skin because he just made _himself_ flustered. Like that’s gotta be like some sort of accomplishment somewhere. He should get and award. Or even better a _medal_.

“Alright since you’re...me and I’m you...then you know I can’t go with you.” McClain says, suddenly serious.

Lance’s smile slips off his face.

“What?” He asks.

McClain stares at him silently then turns, gesturing to the Winter Sports Complex behind him.

“Do you have any idea how _hard_ I had to work to get here?” He asks. “Day and night I _lived_ and _breathed_ skating just to get to this point.” He says

“ I understand that.” Lance interjects. “But there are people who need us, they literally _depend_ on us.” Lance replies.

McClain turns back around and bites his lip, frowning at Lance.

“How many Cuban skaters do you know?” He asks suddenly.

“Um, I-I don’t know.” Lance says slowly. McClain nods in understanding.

“That makes sense...because you can literally count on one hand the amount of Cuban Winter Sports athletes there are” McClain remarked. Lance falls silent.

“Cuba does better in the Summer games...but almost no athletes get into the Winter games let alone _place-_ but _I_ did. Do you _get_ how _major_ that is?” McClain said placidly. Lance bites his lip.

“Look,” McClain begins, placing both hands on Lance’s shoulders and forcing him to meet his gaze. “You say that there are are people out there who need and depend on you but there are millions of people _here_ who need and depend on _me_ .” McClain says. “I represent not only myself but the entire _country_. How am I supposed to just pick up and leave?” McClain asks incredulously.

“How can you just drop it and stay?” Lance retorts. “Because we’re not talking about one country but the entire _Universe_ .” Lance replies, his voice slightly hoarse. Suddenly there’s unease bubbling in his stomach because in a way he _does know_ where McClain is coming from and that makes him uncomfortable. He’s never had a personal connection to being a paladin- at least not like the others did. Shiro having been a captive of the Galra for a year. Pidge having lost their family. Hunk having witnessed the atrocities done  and made a connection to the Balmerans. And Keith being half-Galra. But not Lance. So far he’d been doing it because it was the right thing to do. But did that mean that McClain was obligated to pledge his life to a cause he had known nothing about before today?

“Why does it have to be _me_ ?” McClain asks, looking slightly frustrated. “There’s like 9 billion people on Earth, why _me_? I’m sure there are better picks.” He stated. Lance sighed deeply and leant back against the wall of the Complex, McClain soon joins him. The two stand in a tensed silence before Lance breaks it again.

“It’s like you said..there’s only one Lance McClain.” He replies, trying to lighten the mood. “Besides... the Blue Lion chose us.”

McClain sniffles slightly and Lance is momentarily worried that he’s going to cry but instead McClain just turns to face him, an upset look on his face. Not angry. Just upset.

“Then why can’t you do it?” He asks desperately. Lance’s shoulders slump slightly.

“I already am.” He says. “During one of our fights the bad guys got the drop on us and mashed us with a world where I didn’t go up to space with the rest of the team...and now to set things right we need _you_ to pick up the mantel.” Lance replies. McClain stands stiffly, not replying.

“...If I do go up with you and all this goes back to normal...does that mean I can come home?” He asks, his eyes gazing at Lance imploringly. Lance clenches his fists, his nails digging into the palm of his hand.

“I...I don’t know. People need us...they _really_ need us. It’s not selfish for you to want to stay here cuz you’ve got a lot more people depending on you than I did…” Lance says softly, trailing off. He’s been trying to ignore the thoughts he’d been having about McClain and his significance compared to Lance’s. Lance’s accomplishments was knowledge limited to Varadero, but McClain’s stretched across the _country_. He was practically an icon if his follower count on social media revealed anything. The collages he’d seen littering McClain’s room when Akira broke in were pictures of him with his fanbase. McClain meant more to people than Lance did and he’s still not sure how to take that.

“...If you had to assign a number to the people that need our help…” McClain began. “What would it be?”

Lance releases a slight snort. “I’m not sure that the human brain can quite comprehend the number I’m thinking of.”

McClain winces.

“Hundreds of Planets...full of civilizations.  Galaxies full of those planets...all of them depend on Voltron to help...we’re all they’ve got.” Lance says.

McClain remains silent for a long time. The two stand in undisturbed silence for what feels like hours before McClain releases an exhausted sigh.

“This was not how I thought my day would go.” He murmurs. McClain turns to Lance and offers a tired smile.”I...I’ll...I’ll go with you.”

Lance’s eyes widen.

“If you think about it, it seems like a pretty obvious choice doesn’t it? People’s lives vs Being a hometown hero? I mean the choice is pretty clear to anyone with a conscience.” McClain says. Lance frowns slightly in concern.

“I don’t want you to feel forced McClain...yeah we need you but if you truly don’t want to- we’re not the sort of people that would make you.” Lance replies. McClain appears pensive before smiling slightly.

“Nah. I can do it.” He nods. “I’ve never had much of an interest in space but maybe it’s high time I learned?”

Lance is silent for a moment, staring at McClain before returning the soft smile.

“Yeah.” Lance says. “Better late than never.”

McClain nods and offers his arms to Lance once again who latches on.

“Let’s go find your weird friends and get to your Robo-Cat or whatever.” McClain says lightly, holding open the door they came out of for Lance.

“Oh we didn’t come in one of the Lions.” Lance replies as he waits for McClain to step inside. McClain tilts his head slightly.

“Then how did you get here from space?” He asks curiously.

“We came down in an invisible pod that’s currently hiding in the empty lot a couple blocks away. The Lions are in this Castle Ship floating behind Earth’s moon”

McClain just stared at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god I hope someone noticed the slight supernatural reference but I doubt it (I saw that they're finally ending the show)
> 
> *special thanks to bleair30-blog.tumblr.com for helping me with cuban street foods and drinks*
> 
> next time-mcclain boards the castle ship and finds a kindred spirit (you all know who it is) and Jesus Christ Kogane control your thirst


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> McClain enters the castle, meets blue, and makes a friend. And Lance uncovers more about McClain's life without the Garrison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy that people saw my reference I thought it was too obscure but apparently not!!

Lance and McClain find Keith and Akira standing in the same hall they had left them in like two dumb ducks, standing around looking lost. Rather than voice his observation Lance strides up to the two, grinning in way he hopes is more positive than he feels.

“Hey losers guess who saved our asses?” Lance asks, putting his fists on his hips and sauntering up to the two paladins.

“Where did you go?” Akira asks rather than answering, stepping closer and bumping Lance’s chest with his own. That boy seriously has no concept of personal space does he? Which is weird since Keith gets all awkward whenever a stranger steps closer than a foot from his person.

“We just got something to eat really quickly and talked.” McClain answers, coming up beside Lance and resting a hand on the small of his back. Lance shivers slightly because all McClain has to do is move his hand down _a little_ and it would be right on his-

“Do you really need to stand so close to him?” Keith asks suddenly, pulling Akira back by his jacket. Akira stumbles slightly, making  an annoyed sound and rips away from Keith’s hold.

“Don’t pull on my jacket!” Akira spits out, huffing and smoothing down his red crop jacket. Lance grins and resists the urge to poke fun at Keith for his shit seduction and clear jealousy.

“We need to go soon.” McClain interjects, his hand pushing Lance forward and towards the elevator the three paladins had come up in. “A few other skaters reserve the rinks by mine, they’ll think it’s weird if i’m not there and I don’t know about you but i’m not looking forward to explaining... _this_.” McClain says, turning slightly and gesturing to Akira, Lance, and Keith. Lance nods and quickly follows McClain to the elevator. Keith and Akira shove their way in as well, bumping each other and standing on opposing sides of the lift.

The ride to the parking garage is stuck in silence only filled by generic elevator music. McClain has wormed his hand around Lance’s waist and Lance wiggles slightly in happiness. Usually _he’s_ the one holding dates and prospective lovers but this time he gets to be the _holdee_ rather than the _holder_ and it’s a nice change. The doors slide open with a barely audible _‘ting’_ and McClain begins quickly leading the group out onto the street where they immediately get mixed in with the crowd.

“Do you remember the way back to your…’invisible pod’?” McClain asks, whispering the question in Lance’s ear as they move with the flow of the crowd. Lance nods and begins maneuvering them through the streets, back tracking the way they came. Lance occasionally glances over his shoulder to make sure that Keith and Akira haven’t been lost to the crowd and resists the urge to snort when he sees the two purposefully bumping the other with their shoulders. Honestly those two could learn a thing or two from him and McClain who took to each other like a duck takes to water. Lance turns back around and scans the expanse of the street, raising his hand and pointing towards a blueish billboard in the distance.

“Over there. It’s the lot right by that billboard.” Lance says and McClain follows his finger, letting out a slight _‘oh’_ sound as he spots it. McClain has lowered his arm from Lance’s waist and now opts to hold his hand. Their fingers are tightly intertwined and Lance notes that McClain always turns his head in Lance’s direction whenever they are forced to wait at a crosswalk, tucking it close to his shoulder. The third time it happens Lance makes an inquisitive noise.

“You good bruh?” Lance asks softly. McClain nods affirmatively.

“It’s just that I’m easily recognized here.” McClain responds quietly. Lance makes a noise of understanding and makes a point to push his sunglasses further up his nose, glancing around subtly at the crowd of people they're in the middle of. Thankfully they manage to make it to the lot fairly easily, no one stops McClain and the party of four are able to quickly enter the lot without too many eyes on them. The pod casts a light shadow on the ground, allowing for them to find its exact location.

“Okay. “ Akira begins, sidling up to the driver’s side of the pod. “There’s only enough room for two people in front and up to six in the back and since it was a tight squeeze last time thanks to _someone_ .” Akira says, glaring at Keith who pretends not to notice. “There should _only_ be two in front this time, so Lance you’re with me.” Akira says motioning Lance over to him. Lance doesn’t even get a chance to respond before Keith begins raising protests.

“Whoa wait a second who said _you_ got to decide for everyone?” Keith asks, brows furrowed in discontent.

Akira turns in his direction and crosses both arms over his chest. “There’s two seats in the front, and _I’m_ taking one of them which means there’s one other seat and I say Lance should get that seat.” Akira replies haughtily and Keith looks about ready to let his fists do the talking.

“Why doesn’t _McClain_ sit in front with you? You two are going to be teammates soon anyway. ” Keith grits out, moving into Akira’s personal space. Akira narrows his gaze slightly.

“How about _you_ stop telling me what to do.” Akira replies, _pushing_ Keith back a little and Lance can already hear the ‘Kill Bill’ sirens going off in Keith’s head. As much as Lance would _love_ to see the outcome they _do need_ to get back to the castle before Pidge decides to go ahead with plan B anyway.

“Alright, alright I see what’s happening.” Lance interjects, stepping between the two Red paladins. “Both of you are horrible at feelings- not a surprise to anyone- so here’s what we’re gunna do!” Lance begins grinning brightly and turning to Keith and Akira.

“You two can _share_ the front and McClain and I will share the back!” Lance says happily.

“Wha-?” Akira begins but doesn’t get a chance to finish as Lance pushes him into the front of the pod.

“Off you go!” Lance says brightly. Lance turns to Keith who is watching him with suspicious eyes.

“Honestly Kogane being your wingman is a thankless job.” Lance says, shaking his head. Keith sputters in indignation and Lance simply shoved him into the pod, letting him land on Akira who lets out a grunt of annoyance.

Lance ignores the sounds of fighting and turns to McClain who had been watching with a raised brow the entire time.

“Let’s go beautiful! There’s a backseat with our name on it!” Lance says offering his hand to McClain who gladly followed his lead. The back of the pod de-materialized with a light brush of his hand.

“After you.” Lance said, smiling charmingly, like a true gentlemen. McClain grinned and put a hand to his heart.

“ _Oh my_.” He crooned. Lance winked  and waited for McClain to climb in before following after him. Just as the opening began to materialize once again Lance caught sight of the billboard hanging above the lot and felt his smile slip off his face. On it was a large printed picture of McClain’s face dressed in a sparkling blue shirt and smiling confidently at the camera. The dark blue background was used to highlight the picture and featured a large white circle stamped beside his head with the letters ‘ISU’. Lance looked away right as the pod finished materializing back into place. McClain was settled directly across from him and was smiling brightly. Lance attempted to mirror the action. It didn’t work considering McClain immediately began frowning in concern.

“What’s wrong?” He asked curiously. Lance shrugged his shoulders slightly and motioned to the now closed wall of the pod.

“There...there was a billboard hanging over the lot.” Lance replied. McClain raised a brow. “It had your picture on it.” Lance elaborated. McClain’s eyes widened in realization.

“ _Oh_.” He said softly, looking down. Lance frowned slightly in concern at the reaction, pushing off from the wall of the pod and resting a hand on McClain’s knee. McClain didn’t speak immediately and Lance didn't ask him to.

“It was...one of the announcement posters funded by the Cuban Skating Federation.” McClain said lowly. Lance waited for him to continue, gently squeezing his knee.

“It’s from when I got my first assignment for the Grand Prix- and that’s kind of a big deal...It’s a _really big deal_ actually.” McClain said, his voice cracking slightly.

Lance felt a pang of guilt rush through his body and softly rubbed McClain’s knee, attempting to offer some comfort to him. McClain raised both hands and used them to wipe at his face, dragging them down and sighing deeply.

“...Do you regret coming with us?” Lance asks carefully. McClain looks like he’s considering his words for a moment before responding.

“Yes.” He says simply. Lance winces.

“I mean...wouldn’t you?” McClain asks, looking up at Lance. “Think about it- you spend everyday training, drilling in routines, and dancing your heart out. All building up for just a few minutes of performance in one of the biggest competitions of a skater’s _career_ only to find out you’ll never get those minutes?...I mean _of course_ I’m disappointed” McClain says, his eyes filled with unspoken heartbreak. Lance feels his face crease similarly in sadness.

“I’m sorry.” Lance says softly, and _he means_ it. McClain’s got something good going for him, Lance did too. After getting moved out of Cargo Class everything finally felt like it was going his way- McClain had probably felt that way too. Besides...Lance knew all too well what it felt like to give something your all only to have the carpet ripped out from under you. A sudden pain in his forehead had Lance looking up at McClain who held his  right hand out in a ‘flicking’ motion.

“Don’t look so sad.” McClain says, offering a small smile. “Sad isn’t a good look on us, if we frown too much we’ll develop-”

“Pre-mature wrinkles.” Lance finishes, a smile tugging at his own lips. McClain nods happily.

“You’re right.” Lance agrees, sitting up from his slouched position. “In a team full of fashion disasters and bad hair cuts we’ve got to be the pretty ones.” Lance says, shrugging slightly. McClain nods absently.

“It’s a burden we must bear.” He agrees solemnly. The two stare at each other with serious expressions before letting out matching giggles. The laughter slowly dies down and the two are left in silence with only the slight hum of the pod to fill the emptiness.

“So…” McClain begins suddenly. Lance tilts his head in curiosity. “What...what are these _‘teammates’_ like?” He asked hesitantly. Lance stares at him for a moment and McClain awkwardly rubs the back of his head.

“I’m kinda curious because I...I don’t really know anyone there and they’ve probably gotten some time to get to know each other so I’ll be the only stranger and just wanted to know what I should be expecting.” McClain offers. Lance nods in understanding and takes on a thinking pose.

“Well Pidge is the shortest one and they’re like ten feet of smartass and actual smartness compounded into a five foot body.” Lance says. “Shiro’s like this huge stud that has the body and face of an angel and is an _awesome_ leader.” Lance grins. “Allura’s pretty cool, she's a princess by the way, and she’s kinda strict but can be nice to be around when she lets loose. Coran’s really fun-he tells us stories about Altea and makes us clean the castle with him which sounds pretty lame but is actually kinda cool! He’s been teaching us awesome junk like how to treat wounds and stuff. Keith’s pretty lame, all he cares about is training and stuff and he’s not really good at making conversation so he’s entirely dependent on _our_ smooth people skills.” Lance brags. McClain is staring at him with a bright focused gaze.

“And Hunk, oh man Hunk is the _best_.” Lance gushes. “He’s our best friend!” Lance says happily, clasping both hands together and sighing dreamily.

“Best friend?” McClain asks, looking at Lance inquisitively. Lance nods.

“Yep! The bestest.” Lance declared. McClain nodded and smiled softly before looking down at his lap. Lance saw the sad slump of his shoulders and frowned in concern.

“Are you okay?” Lance asked, placing a hand on McClain’s shoulder. McClain immediately nodded and looked up at Lance.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” He assured Lance. McClain’s eyes were still conflicted so Lance hardly believed his assurances.

“Are you sure? Because you seemed kinda-”

“I’m sure.” McClain maintained. McClain appeared to hesitate before speaking again. “It’s just...the way you’ve been talking about them...you seem really close.” McClain said slowly. Lance nodded.

“We are...all of us. I mean they are kinda my friends.” Lance replied. McClain nodded consideringly.

“Yeah... _friends_.” He said softly. The way McClain said ‘friends’ made something uncomfortable settle in Lance’s stomach and he suddenly recalled the phone Akira had recovered from McClain’s room in Varadero- the one with almost no numbers outside his family and coach. Suddenly Lance felt concern begin to bloom in his chest.

“You...you do have some don’t you?” Lance asked. McClain looked up, gazing into Lance’s eyes with slightly furrowed brows.

“Some what?” He asked.

“Friends” Lance repeated. McClain’s face fell and he twiddled his thumbs together, picking slightly at his nails.

“I guess...I mean it's not that _I don’t_ have-...I just...I guess I just got used to not _having_ any.” McClain says quietly. Lance nearly has to strain to hear and once he does feels his chest fill with sadness. Because even when Lance entered the Garrison, knowing absolutely no one, he at least had Hunk. But McClain….McClain had no one? At all?

“That seems pretty lonely.” Lance says hesitantly. McClain looks like he wants to say something but instead opts to shrug and continues picking at his nails.

“I mean it makes a bit of sense...I missed school a lot for practice and after awhile just started taking online classes to finish my education-mom said that was non negotiable” McClain says, smiling slightly before the smile slips off just as easily as it came. “...But I figured once I rose to the top...I could try making friends again…” McClain trailed off.

“But?” Lance probed. McClain looked down and started tugging at the zipper of his blue jacket.

“But...no one really wanted to be my friend” He said quietly. “...Every time I came close they’d tell me I was no fun because I was always so busy with practice or traveling or competing so I just...stopped trying.”

Lance can tell that McClain is trying to blow it off, pretend like his feelings aren’t hurt about it. Lance knows he is because _he’s_ done it before- friends were difficult for Lance to make and even moreso to keep, his loud and boisterous personality often not mixing well with others. Acquaintances Lance could make easily, he was friendly with his classmates but _friends_ , that was a line he hadn’t managed to actually breach until Hunk. And McClain had never….

Lance feels sadness tug at his heart and lays both hands on McClain’s shoulder, forcing him to look up.

“He gives the best hugs,” Lance begins, smiling gently. McClain’s brows have creased in confusion. “His arms are always warm, he makes the best food and he always lets _us_ have the first piece- even if he’s slaved over it for hours.” Lance says softly. McClain’s eyes have begun to widen in comprehension. “Hunk is the mac to my cheese, the jelly to my peanut butter, the...third example to my metaphor “ Lance said in a voice soft with affection. “When we first met we had almost nothing in common- we weren’t even in the same classes together. But we became as close as two bros can be while on a 30 minute bus ride to the Galaxy Garrison. Hunk and I have got this connection ya know? We just get each other and I think that you can make that connection too.” Lance says gently. McClain is staring at him with wide stunned eyes. His eyes water slightly but are quickly wiped away with the brush of a hand. McClain’s lips pull into a wide smile and he nods in agreement. Lance returns the smile with a large grin.

“Besides... he could help you get your palate back.” Lance adds. “Like what do you even survive on? Fruit water and kale?” Lance asks, trying to lighten the mood further.

McClain snorts. “Something like that.” He replies and leans back in his seat, gazing up at the ceiling of the escape pod. All is silent for a moment before he speaks again “Best friend huh?” He says softly, almost longingly. Lance nods and the two are quiet for the rest of the trip.

XxX

Arrival to the castle is signaled by the sudden jolt of the pod and its immediate de-materialization of the back door. Lance immediately jumps out and turns around to offer a hand to McClain who is carefully stepping out. McClain lands softly on his feet and turns around to gaze in awe of the escape pod hanger.

“It’s so big.” He breathes. Lance nods and reaches for McClain’s hand, pulling him forward.

“Come on, I’ll introduce you to the others.” He insists and begins heading for the exit but stops when he spots Keith and Akira climbing out of the pod. Lance raises a brow at their slightly ruffled appearance.

“Well well well.” Lance grins in what he knows is a suggestive manner. “Looks like someone had a good ride.”

Keith looks up and side glares at Akira who meets his gaze. “If by ‘good ride’ you mean getting kneed in the stomach after you pushed us into the pod on top of each other than _sure_.” Keith sassed. Akira bristled slightly.

“Don’t act like you’re the victim here! You knocked my head against the dashboard!” Akira argued, lifting a hand to rub against the back of his head. Keith looked unsympathetic and turned away from Akira to face McClain and Lance.

“Should we head to the Blue Lion’s hanger so we can just get this over with already?” Keith sighed. Lance frowned slightly.

“Not yet. I want to make sure that McClain settles in first.” He insisted and turned to McClain only to notice that he was no longer  there. Lance quickly scanned the hanger and immediately spotted McClain standing beside Akira who was watching him with stunned eyes. Lance took a step closer and caught sight of McClain gently cradling Akira’s head in one hand and running a hand over their scalp with the other.

“What are you doing?” Lance asked curiously, coming up beside McClain. McClain gestured to Akira’s head.

“Head injuries shouldn’t be taken lightly. I remember one time I messed up a jump and hit the railing of the rink, thought I wasn’t hurt but turns out I gave myself a mild concussion.” McClain explained and quietly asked if Akira could follow the direction of his finger with his eyes. After a moment McClain stepped back and offered Akira a ‘thumbs up’.

“It doesn’t look bad, I couldn’t even feel a bruise so you should be fine.” McClain offered and made to move away. Akira reached out and grasped his wrist.

“Wait!” He said quickly. McClain stopped and turned to raise a brow at Akira who looked slightly flustered.

“Thank you.” He finished lamely and gently released McClain’s wrist. McClain nodded and turned to Lance’s side and softly bumped him with his hip.

“Remember that thing I said about him not being a great conversationalist?” Lance whispered. McClain nodded slightly and turned around to offer Akira a small wave of his fingers before following Lance to the exit of the hanger. As they were leaving Lance could slightly  hear Keith telling Akira to ‘wipe that dopey smile off’ his face.And shook his head at the clear lack of tact.

XxX

McClain and Lance headed to the bridge of the ship, followed closely by Akira and Keith. As they were arriving Lance noted that McClain became increasingly more anxious-rubbing his hands together, running his fingers through his hair, and tugging lightly at his zipper.

“Hey.” Lance said softly, drawing McClain’s attention. “It’ll all be okay. They just wanna meet you for now-they’re not expecting anything,” He assured. McClain nodded slightly and took a deep breath before following Lance through the sliding doors to the main control room. Inside, the members of Voltron and their alternate selves were all waiting patiently at their respective control panels. McClain froze beside him and seemed glued in place, not taking more than a few steps forward.

Shirogane is the first one to step forward, approaching McClain with a kind smile and soft eyes.

“Hi. You don’t really know me but I’m Takashi Shirogane-the Black Paladin of Voltron.” Shirogane says, smiling softly and offering his Galra arm for a handshake. McClain looks down at it in surprise and slowly reaches out to grasp Shirogane’s hand, murmuring his own greeting. The meeting is a surprising mix of basic formality with a slight casualness that only Shiro can pull off. Once Shirogane had made his introductions the other seem to take it as a sign to introduce themselves as well, beginning with Gunderson who bounded up with a strange grin and offered their own handshake. Hieronymous and Princess both offered their own formal greetings and excited smiles at McClain’s presence. Tsuyoshi is the last one to come up, giving McClain a nervous smile and quiet ‘hello’. McClain returns all their greetings with the same smile, a polite one that no one but Lance saw something off about. Lance was an emotional person and a bit of an eccentric so he knew the expressions he tended to make-McClain’s smile was just the slightest bit uncomfortable and nervous. It’s the same one Lance had worn during his pre-admission interviews to the Garrison. McClain was unsure but the situation but he wasn’t about to show it. Lance took a step forward and wrapped an arm around McClain’s shoulder, offering some comfort to the anxious teen.

“Should I prepare the castle for a wormhole?” Princess asked, her head tilted in question. Lance looked away from McClain and gave a small shake of his head.

“I was thinking that maybe we could just settle McClain in for now? You know-show him his room, introduce him to Blue, give him a tour of the castle.” Lance says, making the effort to sound reassuring to McClain who gave him a grateful smile. Princess nods in agreement and gives McClain a bright grin.

“Of course! If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask myself or the others- we all would like your stay here to be as comfortable as possible.” She says naturally. McClain nods in thanks.

“Thanks, I really appreciate it.” He says, returning the small smile. Lance grins and turns to Hunk and Tsuyoshi who were standing a few feet away. Hunk was grinning brightly beside a much more reserved Tsuyoshi. Lance waves them over with his hand and Hunk approaches, smiling excitedly the closer he gets.

“My Hunk of burnin’ love lets show Other-me a good time!” Lance grins. Hunk immediately nods and motions for Tsuyoshi to follow who does so quickly and soon the group of four are hurrying down the halls to the kitchen.

Hunk leads the way and immediately heads in the direction of the Altean version of an oven, removing a tray of small green square.

“While you, Keith, and Akira were away Tsuyoshi and I made toasted ‘goo-oils’ which are just raviolis made of goo.” Hunk says, setting the tray down. Lance excitedly peers down to the lightly toasted squares and eagerly reaches for one. Hunk slaps his hand away. Lance shoots him a betrayed look.

“ _McClain_ gets the first taste.” Hunk insists and pushes the tray in McClain’s direction. McClain looks down in surprise and hesitantly looks down.

“I mean...I don’t know if I should. I’ve already broken my diet today so-”

“You don’t have to.” Tsuyoshi says. McClain looks up at him. Tsuyoshi’s lips curl up slightly and slowly reach out to pat McClain on the back. “It’s alright if you don’t want to.” He insists. McClain stares at him for a moment longer before looking back at the tray and reaching out.

“I want to.” McClain replies, gently lifting the toasted green square. “Besides it’s not like coach is here to make me go running as punishment.” He says and bites down on the square, releasing a slight ‘crunch’ sound that Lance would not admit to being jealous of. McClain’s eyes widen in surprise and looks towards Hunk and Tsuyoshi in astonishment.

“You made these?” He asks Tsuyoshi. Tsuyoshi smiles and rubs the back of his head- an embarrassed tick that Lance sees in Hunk on occasion.

“Yeah, Hunk and I figured we could make the goo into a dough and then- _this_.” He says, motioning towards the tray that Lance had been inching towards. McClain smiles brightly.

“It’s amazing.” He breathes. Tsuyoshi’s eyes widen slightly and then he’s returning the smile.

Lance slides to Hunk’s side and begins whispering.

“You remember _our_ first ravioli?” Lance says lowly. Hunk snickers and turns to Lance, a nostalgic expression on his face.

“Yeah. We found out you were allergic to the shrimp in them and spent the rest of the day in the nurse’s office.” Hunk replies, smiling. Lance grins.

“But you visited me after classes the next day and even brought me _flowers_ .” Lance swooned, falling into Hunk’s ready arms. Hunk shakes his head at Lance’s actions and slowly lifts him up to lean on the counter. McClain and Tsuyoshi are still speaking making hand motions and grinning brightly at each other. Lance can immediately tell that this time the smile is genuine and even sees that Tsuyoshi appears more at ease than he has before. Lance and Hunk just _clicked_ that first day they had met. McClain and Tsuyoshi hadn’t even known each other long but were already hitting it off-  there wasn’t a doubt in Lance’s mind that the two would be weaving friendship bracelets for each other within a matter of hours.

Lance smiles gently and slowly approaches the two who appear deep in conversation. Lance moves to stand behind McClain and leans against him, wrapping his arms around McClain’s waist and letting his chin rest on his shoulder.

“ _Heeeyyyy_.” Lance whispers, blowing softly into McClain’s ear who turns his head to face the grinning Lance. McClain raises a brow and returns the grin, moving his head forward slightly and lightly pecking Lance’s nose. Lance releases him and giggles, turning to Tsuyoshi who was watching curiously. Lance spreads his arms out and reaches forward, lightly squeezing Tsuyoshi before pulling back and holding his hand out for McClain.

“We need to check on the beautiful Blue Lion and will return shortly.” Lance chirps and waves at Tsuyoshi and Hunk who both share amused expressions. Just before bolting Lance reaches out and grabs a handful of the raviolis before tugging McClain forward. McClain lets out a snort of laughter and jogs beside Lance as the two race to an elevator that will lower them to the shared hanger of all the Lions.

“Alright. First thing you need to know about Blue is that she loves Mariah Carey.” Lance begins, biting into one of his stolen snacks. McClain raises an amused brow.

“Blue’s an awesome gal but she can get carried away sometimes. Her favorite song is ‘Emotions’- you know the one, we cry to sometimes.” Lance adds and happily bounds out when the elevator slides open. McClain lets out a laugh at the description and follows Lance out as he leads him to the hanger.

“For some reason she likes the fact that we’re really small, I think it’s because she likes to remember that she’s big.” Lance says, as the two saunter into the hanger. McClain freezes beside him and stares up at the gathered Lions, an expression of awe crossing his  face.

“Woah.” He breathes out. Lance grins at the reaction and reaches out to close McClain’s mouth which had fallen open in his astonishment. Lance grips McClain’s shoulders and turns him to face Blue, urging him forward. McClain moves slowly, gazing up at Blue in amazement. Blue’s particle barrier had been raised when the two entered the hanger but the second that McClain is less than a foot away, it disappears in a magnificent show of light. Blue’s eyes flash slightly and suddenly Lance is hit with visions of Blue soaring through space, ripping through icy terrain, and wading easily through water. Lance pulls his hands away from McClain’s shoulders and the visions immediately disappear. McClain stumbles back into him and Lance holds his hands out, stopping him from stumbling back anymore.

“You okay?” Lance asks McClain who is staring at the ground with wide eyes. McClain wordlessly nods and straightens up, gazing up at Blue who has lowered their head and opened their mouth- an invitation to enter and see the cockpit. McClain slowly backs away and Lance’s brows furrow in concern.

“She wants you to come in.” Lance says. McClain stops but doesn’t make to move forward.

“What’s wrong?” Lance asks softly. Blue hadn’t done anything to elicit this reaction so why was McClain acting so...upset?

“I...I don’t think I can do this.” McClain says softly. Lance’s eyes widen in surprise. The two had been on the same page up until now. What had happened to change that?

“Lance I’m not suited for this.” McClain says, looking up at him, his brows creased in uncertainty.

“What?” Lance asks.

“ _Me_ .” McClain repeats, pointing at himself. “ _I’m_ not suited for this!” He says, throwing his arms up, a look of frustration beginning to develop on his face.  “I’m a Figure Skater alright! I don’t know anything about piloting a ship let alone a giant Lion Cat!” McClain exclaims pointing at Blue who lets out a slight whine that tugs at Lance’s heartstrings.

“Maybe...maybe I shouldn't have come.” McClain says quietly. Lance’s eyes widen.

“What? No! McClain listen-” Lance begins, approaching McClain.

“What’s going on?” A voice calls out from the entrance of the hanger. Lance looks up and spots Akira standing at the opening of the hanger, watching the two of them with a questioning gaze. Akira begins walking towards the two, his brows furrowed in concern. Lance sighs and straightens up, turning to face the Red Paladin.

“Just some second thoughts.” Lance says. Akira’s eyes widen in surprise and turn to McClain who sighs softly and shrugs at the questioning gaze. Akira hesitantly steps forwards and appears to consider his words before speaking.

“I think that...you’ll be fine?” He offers, making it sound more like a question than a statement. Lance shakes his head from behind McClain.

“I mean- it’s just...you have all of us to help you so...don’t worry about it?” Akira informed, his voice sounding soft and slightly unsure. Lance raises a brow.

“It’s just...I’m really not much of a pilot- that guy, Shirogane, he was one of the men who went to Kerberos right? I saw his picture on the news a long time ago. And Lance mentioned that he went to the Garrison...but me? I’m really not much of a fighter.” McClain says quietly, shaking his head. “Maybe I made my decision too quickly."

“I can teach you.” Akira says fiercely. Both Lance and McClain look at him in surprise. Akira’s fists are clenched by his side and his face has taken on a rosy hue.

“I don’t want to sound cocky but I was the best cadet back in the Garrison and I know my way around the training deck so… I can teach you...if you want.” He says, sounding earnest in his offer. McClain’s eyes are staring at Akira in surprise, their astonishment clear. McClain’s mouth clicks shut and he offers Akira a small smile.

“I...I think I’d like that.” He says quietly. Akira nods awkwardly, shifting in place, unsure of what to do next. McClain turns to face Blue who had been resting on the floor of the hanger, patiently waiting. McClain takes a small step forward, one after another, steadily approaching the Blue Lion. Lance and Akira both watch silently as McClain enters and disappears up into the cockpit. Blue’s mouth snaps shut and she rises into her resting position, her eyes glowing a warm yellow. Lance gets the distinct feeling that McClain will be there for awhile and turns to Akira who meets his gaze. Silently, Lance begins heading for the exit, Akira walking wordlessly beside him. Once in the hall Lance turns a questioning gaze to Akira who seemed unsure of what to say.

“Soooooo,” Lance begins, Akira raises his head to look at him. “Where’s discount Billy Ray Cyrus?” Lance asks, looking up and down the hall as if Keith might be hiding in an alcove like a creep. Akira chokes on his spit and clears his throat before replying.

“He’s hogging the training deck and locked me out.” Akira replies, sounding slightly bitter. Lance grins in amusement and reaches out a finger to poke Akira’s puffed out cheeks.

“D’awww is someone upset because they can’t get beat up by robots?” Lance asks in a baby voice. Akira bristles slightly and pushes away Lance’s hand.

“ _I_ _don’t_ get beat up.” Akira says gruffly just as the two arrive at the elevator. Lance smiles and steps inside, Akira following closely. Once the doors shut the two are blanketed in silence.

“Hey.” Lance says, nudging Akira who has crossed his hands over his chest. Akira turns to him, a questioning tilt to his head.

“Thanks for saying what you said to McClain.” Lance says sincerely. Akira’s eyes widen and he looks away, scuffing the floor with one of his boots.

“It was nothing.” He replies quietly. Lance takes a step closer, his hand brushing against Akira’s.

“Seriously though. I’m not sure how much I can do to help him so I’ve been trying to get him settled in, but you offering  to help really seems to have made things better.” Lance says. Akira’s face has turned warm and Lance feels concern rise for a split second.

“But I’m still the better pilot.” Lance tacks on. Akira turns his head to face him and Lance is grinning brightly. Akira scoffs and turns to face him fully, Lance does as well.

“Yeah sure, whatever helps you sleep at night.” Akira says, smiling softly. Lance shrugs and is about to reply when Akira steps forward. Lance stares at him, watching him curiously. Akira reaches his hand out and gently brushes it against Lance’s cheek. Lance feels a slight shiver race up his spine at the action.

“You had...goo on your cheek.” Akira explains quietly. Lance makes a slight noise in his throat and nods in understanding. Akira still hasn’t lowered his hand. The pads of his fingers are a little rough with callouses and rest heavily on his cheek. Akira’s eyes are also startlingly focused, the purple irises are bright and watching Lance carefully. Lance isn’t sure about what to say, it’s like any sounds he could make were caught in his throat.

Suddenly, Akira’s pointer finger brushes against the edge of Lance’s mouth. Lance’s breath hitches and Akira’s eyes become locked on his lips.

Lance isn’t sure who moved forward first.

Maybe it was him or maybe it was Akira.

Lance can’t recall.

But he does remember their lips meeting just as the elevator doors slid open.

“WHAT THE FUCK.”

The loud yell snapped Lance out of whatever trance he had been in, shoving away from Akira and turning to face a wide-eyed Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooooooooooooooooooooooooo


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lance finally realizes what's going on

The thing is that Lance can easily consider himself a good friend. Hunk would literally _testify_ to that. Lance can be crude sure, but he’s not _thoughtless_ . He _cares_ about his friends- and as much as he may deny it sometimes, he _does_ consider Keith to be his friend. And with this title of friendship come certain benefits.

For example- Lance will always lie to your parents for you. Lance will take the fall for you if one of you needs to go down. Lance will play wingman. Lance will hype you up _so hard_ . Because Lance is a great fucking friend. But there is one rule in the book friendship that must _never_ be broken.

And that is that you _cannot mack on your friend’s crush._

And Lance just broke it. Which is why he was absolutely ready to receive the fist that Keith immediately formed upon catching Lance attempting to put his tongue in Akira’s mouth. Only the fist wasn’t flying for him.

It was flying for Akira.

Keith’s fist hit Akira’s cheek with devastating accuracy and Lance watched ,in frozen astonishment, as he squared up and began throwing cheap shots. Akira was already raising his arms to block the punches going for his face, it was _brutal_ . Lance has watched Keith fight, even faced off against him a few times in training, so Lance knows that Keith’s style is quick and heavy. All that sword swinging must be doing wonders for his upper body considering Keith had been packing on muscles clearly visible in his forearms and biceps. And _now_ said muscles were being used to deliver wild punches with none of their regular finesse. But it’s not like Akira was just taking it. He was pushing Keith back into the walls of the suddenly cramped elevator, blocking his punches and even throwing his own hits. But Keith was angry, no, he was _furious_ . Lance doesn’t think he’s _ever_ seen Keith that mad- his face flushed in anger, brows furrowed in rage, and snarl permanently etched on his face. Keith’s anger was fueling his wild attacks and were steadily overpowering Akira who literally had nowhere to go. Lance knew a losing battle when he saw one and was just about to intervene when Keith suddenly grabbed Akira by the lapels of his jacket, hoisting him over his shoulder and literally _throwing him out into the hall_.

“ _Holy shi_ -” Lance yelled, shoved out of the way as Keith launched himself at Akira’s fallen form and began throwing punches, punctuating his sentence with a fist.

“YOU!” Keith screamed, going for Akira’s nose.

“HAVE!” That one hit Akira’s mouth.

“YOUR!” Akira managed to block that one.

“OWN!” That one hit Akira’s chin.

“ **ROOM**!” Keith screamed, foregoing punches and now just clawing at Akira’s face. Akira grunted in effort and bucked Keith off,  immediately attacking Keith with his own fists and landing several bruising punches before Lance fell onto the fighting couple, attempting to tear the two apart.

“ _Alright that’s enough!_!” Lance shouted, pushing himself between the two and holding Akira back with one arm while pinning Keith back with an outstretched leg. But it wasn’t working. Keith was pushing against him fiercely and Lance could feel the heavy strain settling in his knee. He couldn’t hold the two back on his own. He needed help.  

“CORAN! HUNK!” Lance shrieked as Keith forced Lance to fold his knee against his chest. His torso was now the only barrier between the furious Keith and equally bellicose Akira. Lance groaned and tried to kick Keith back but all that training must have amounted to _something_ because Lance couldn’t get him to budge. Not even an inch. Akira certainly wasn’t helping considering Lance was pretty much pressing him into the floor, his chest practically embracing Lance’s back. But it seemed that Lance’s luck was still going strong because he could hear the pounding of footsteps coming down the hall in his direction. Lance lifted his head and nearly sagged in relief at the sight of Shiro and Shirogane both rounding the corner to see Lance struggling to keep Tim McGraw’s biggest fans apart.

“ _Help_ .” Lance whispered, eyes watching the Black Paladins desperately as Keith snapped his teeth at Akira and _what the hell_? What was he, a coyote?

“Keith!” Shiro exclaimed, racing to Lance’s side and lifting the angry Red Paladin up like he weighed nothing. Lance would’ve been jealous if he wasn’t so relieved for the absence of the force putting a strain on his hip. Lance sighed deeply and slowly rose up, releasing Akira form his protected position. Shirogane knelt down by Lance’s side, checking on both Lance and Akira as Shiro wrestled with Keith to keep him under control.

“Put me down!” Keith demanded, kicking his feet out and likely attempting to strangle Akira through sheer telepathic force given the way he was glaring at his counterpart. Shirogane had one hand on Akira’s shoulder, helping him to stand up. Lance also carefully stood, noting that Akira had acquired a split lip and bruised cheek from the scuffle.

“What happened?” Shirogane asked quietly, leaning over to hear Lance’s answer. Lance opened his mouth to speak but immediately froze before saying anything. Lance took a moment to consider what he was going to say. It was obvious that Keith’s violent reaction was due to the fact that he saw Lance and Akira sucking face in the elevator but then wouldn’t that be grounds to beat Lance up? I mean Keith had the hots for Akira didn’t he? So why would he beat Akira up? And then there was what Keith had yelled while he was beating the stuffing out of Akira about rooms? Were those two still on that? It didn’t make a lick of sense to Lance why they’d be fighting about rooms when Keith was _clearly_ angry about-........oh. _OH!_

“OHHHHH!!!” Lance gasped, eyes widening in surprise and looking between the now subdued Keith and Akira in astonishment.

“ _I’M_ the room!” Lance said in realization.

Shirogane just blinked.

XxX

To be honest Shiro was a total dad in the sense that once Keith had calmed down he demanded an explanation from him. But Keith wasn't about to incriminate himself so he kept his lips zipped. Akira was also not giving anything away and pretended not to hear Shirogane calling his name in an exasperated manner. Which left Lance as the only other witness- but Lance had just reached a profound realization and was not in any way ready to look Shiro and Shirogane dead in the face and say ‘yeah, Keith beat up Akira because he saw me kissing him and was totally jealous because _he_ might kinda wanna be the one kissing me and I think I’ve had a long day _soooo imma just go_ .’....Yeah that probably wouldn’t go over well. Especially since Lance saw Shiro in a mix between ‘your brother’s cool friend’ and ‘eighth grade know-it-all that judges you’ and _also_ wasn’t ready to discuss _who, what, and how_ Lance’s lips had ended up on Akira’s. Because Lance still needed to figure that out for himself. So when both Black Paladins turned their gazes to Lance he offered a sweet, innocent smile before turning around and bolting away from the scene of the crime. He ignored Shiro and Shirogane’s calls of his name and rounded the corners of the castle, making his way to the two people that likely wouldn’t judge him.

XxX

Tsuyoshi and Hunk were still baking when Lance slinked in, working like Santa’s elves in an efficient yet jolly manner. Lance slumped down on the countertop, just barely missing a hot tray.

“I did bad.” Lance moaned, his voice muffled by the arms he has tucked close to his face. Tsuyoshi gives a sympathetic pat on the back and Hunk smiles gently before offering him one of the sealed water pouches. Hunk and Tsuyoshi don’t ask any questions and instead allow Lance to take a sip before each taking a seat across from him.

“Did something happen between you and McClain?” Hunk asks softly. Lance shakes his head and pouts.

“No. He’s in the hanger bonding with Blue now.” Lance replies before lightly squeezing the pouch and watching the water shoot up the straw and then go down once Lance released the pressure, all without spilling. Lance sighs and rests his forehead against the table.

“I kissed Akira.” Lance says simply. Hunk and Tsuyoshi are silent for a full minute before they say anything.

“What?” Tsuyoshi asks, surprise clear in his voice. Lance looks up, resting his chin on the back of his hand. Hunk’s eyes are wide and he seems too shocked to say anything while Tsuyoshi is staring at Lance like he is baffled by his existence. Well Lance is too.

“What happened? W-when did this happen? H-how did this happen?” Hunk asks, stuttering slightly and Lance can understand the reaction because as far as Hunk knows Lance had never expressed anything but distaste for Keith with the occasional moment of camaraderie. Which is why Lance is internally freaking out about it.

“It happened like five minutes ago in the elevator. Keith walked in on us and beat up Akira but stopped when Shiro and Shirogane both showed up. And as for how?...I don’t know.” Lance replies, running his fingers through his hair because he’s a little stressed, _okay_?

“Akira and I were just talking and then he came in close cause’ I had food on my face- and then suddenly _my lips_ were on _his_ and- _damn_ Keith probably hates me even more now” Lance groans, burying his face in his hands because how do you react when you find out your teammate/rival kinda wanted to makeout with you enough to warrant beating up his alternate self from another universe? And then there’s the question of _why_ Keith would want to maybe kiss Lance and likely touch his butt too. Because Lance and Keith are like oil and water- they believe different things, fight in different ways, think in different ways. The two of them have nearly nothing in common other than sharing the same classes back in the Garrison and….well that’s about it. That’s the only thing they have in common and Keith doesn’t even _remember_ him! Because apparently Lance is ‘such a forgettable person’ and okay now Lance is getting mad and not feeling as bad for Keith anymore. Lance registers that Hunk is speaking and pulls away from his suddenly annoyed-at-Keith thoughts.

“I don’t think that Keith really hates you as much as you think.” Hunk offers. Lance furrows his brows slightly in confusion because has Hunk been present _at any_ of their interactions?

“Keith constantly one ups me, we argue all the time, and we spend almost zero time together.” Lance says. Hunk sighs and looks to Tsuyoshi for help.

“I think what Hunk means is maybe you just don’t see how much he cares for you? I mean you did say he got pretty revved up at seeing you and Akira together and neither Keith or Akira are the type to really show how they’re feeling so it’s possible...that you just didn’t notice.” Tsuyoshi says quietly. Lance silently absorbs the words, taking them into consideration. It could be possible, emphasis on _‘could’_ . Lance likes to think that he’s a pretty perceptive person and he’s almost certain he would’ve _noticed_ Keith mooning over him. A high pitched ringing sound reverberates through the room and Lance looks up as Hunk and Tsuyoshi stand and grab the over mitts they had laid down earlier. They each extract separate trays, one looks like a casserole of green goo and the other looks slightly spongy and Lance hopes that it’s cake because he could really use a pick-me-up after the day that he’s had.

“It’s almost dinner so the other’s should be getting to the dining hall soon.” Tsuyoshi informs him as he inverts the cake out onto a serving platter.

“Why don’t you go pick up McClain? He’s been down in the hanger awhile so he must be hungry by now.” Hunk says, lightly pushing Lance in the direction of the door. Lance nods affirmatively and slowly walks in the direction of the elevator, which he hopes has been abandoned by now. Lance draws a breath and turns the corner, relieve to see that it’s empty and speedwalks over. The ride down to the hanger is silent, giving Lance more time to think. So Keith might like him _*might*_ is still a very strong word. It’s entirely possible that maybe Keith was just ticked off at Akira for pursuing Lance. Maybe it was some sort of self-punishment for doing stupid shit. Lance does it sometimes- gives himself lectures in the mirror about shit he pulled that day and warns himself not to do it again.

In his deep thought Lance doesn’t notice his feet carry him into the hanger until he’s standing in front of Blue. Lance gazes up at his Lion (well not _technically_ his Lion) and feels a fond smile creep across his face.

“Hey baby girl.” Lance says reverently. Blue’s presence swirls around him slightly, she was considerably warmer and happier than last time that was for sure but there was still a gap of unfamiliarity between them. Lance pretends his heart doesn’t ache at the feeling. Blue’s head suddenly lowers, her jaws unclasping and opening a few feet in front of him. Lance watches McClain happily dance out, his steps light as he hops out of Blue and gives her a short wave as she rises to her default position. McClain’s smile is excited, his eyes full of happiness as he approaches Lance and wraps an arm around his waist in a half hug.

“Hey.” Lance greets, smiling.

“Hi.” McClain returns, his grin still large and bright.

“How did it go?” Lance asks as he begins leading McClain in the direction of the lift.

“I think it went really well!” McClain exclaims. “Blue showed me all sorts of stuff like the others forming Voltron and…”

McClain suddenly went silent. Lance turned a concerned eye to him. McClain turned to face Lance just as the two entered the elevator.

“Blue showed me the monsters that the team has faced off against.” McClain said quietly. Lance nodded in understanding.

“Robeasts.” Lance supplies. McClain nods slowly, biting his lip in clear hesitation and Lance feels the immediate need to reassure him.

“Blue will protect you.” Lance says confidently. McClain looks at him in surprise.

“She’ll never let anything happen to you-not if she can help it.” Lance affirms. “Plus you’ve got four people watching your back, they’ll protect you too.” Lance adds, smiling softly. McClain stares at him gratefully and lets out a light chuckle, his shoulders slumping. Lance grins and holds out his hands for McClain who immediately intertwines their fingers together. Lance leads McClain in the direction of the dining room, more than likely the others have already settled there and are just waiting on Lance and McClain. The thought of seeing Keith and Akira again is enough to get tension to rise in his shoulders. McClain must notice because he immediately points it out as they make the final turn for the kitchen.

“Are you alright?” McClain asks curiously.

“Huh?” Lance asks, somewhat distracted.

“You’re tense.” McClain says. “I was wondering if something happened.”

Lance lets his mind flashback to the conversation Hunk and Tsuyoshi had with him and their suggestion that Keith may have _feelings_ for him. A strange tingling begins beating against his chest and Lance shakes his head to get rid of the feeling.

“I...I’ll tell you after dinner but you must be starving by now right?” Lance says, attempting to put off yet another confrontation with his feelings. McClain would understand.

“Alright.” McClain responds quietly, not attempting to force Lance to open up and instead trusting him to open up about his feelings on his own time.

The two walk silently to the dining room and discover that Lance’s prediction was right and the two of them are the last to arrive to dinner. Everyone else is seated around the table. Two open seats are settled between Hunk and Shiro and Lance is grateful that they had enough sense to not put him beside Akira or Keith for dinner. Akira is sitting on the far left side of the table, with Keith directly across from him and both seem to be keeping their eyes on Lance and McClain as they enter the room. Lance tries to ignore the feeling of their gazes on him and sits down in his seat, McClain following after him. Lance sees the spread of dinner and his happy to see that Hunk and Tsuyoshi have gone all out for today- what look to be white dinner rolls, green goo casserole, and that sponge cake are all laid out. Once McClain and Lance claim their seats the others take it as a cue to begin eating happily...or well as happy as one can get in an awkward silence. Usually it’s Lance who leads the conversation because he’s the most chatty of them all besides Coran. But Lance doesn’t feel much like talking, his mind is still stuck on Akira and Keith and how complicated it seems but _not really_ . Because Lance doesn’t even have _confirmation_ on any of this! Only theories. And even if he did, then what? Would Lance return the affections of Keith? What about of Akira? And what about McClain? Lance nearly got it on with McClain’s future teammate today so he needs to figure out where McClain will fall in all of this and oh god everything is just so _messy_ . Lance takes a deep breath and shoves a whole roll of alien space bread in his mouth. McClain raises a brow at the action but it’s non judgemental. Honestly McClain is such an angel, with a body of _pure sin like goddamn_. Lance pulls himself out of that one because no, he is not further complicating this love triangle...quadrilateral….or would it be a square?

“Hey, what would you call a love affair between four people?” Lance asks aloud, not really directing the question to any specific person. The sound of someone choking on food comes from Keith and Akira’s side of the table.

“Wouldn’t that be a polyamorous relationship?” McClain asks, taking a bite of the green casserole. Lance shakes his head negatively.

“Yeah, but well also no, these people are like competing for affections I guess?” Lance says, putting a hand to his chin. Because it’s pretty obvious that Akira wants him, sexually at least. But Keith’s still an enigma. And Lance knows that he’s got something going on downstairs whenever he sees McClain’s butt and cute face.

“Then it’s a love square.” Tsuyoshi pipes up, ripping open a bread roll.

“Nah it should be love quadrilateral.” Gunderson adds, bouncing up from their seat. Shirogane frowns slightly in confusion.

“But a square _is_ a quadrilateral.” Shirogane says, tilting his head like a confused puppy.

“Alright but what about a love polygon?” McClain asks, leaning into the table and gazing at the occupants questioningly. Shiro frowns as well.

“But that doesn’t make sense either because a square is both a polygon and a quadrilateral aren’t they? Geometry isn’t really a course taught at the Garrison so I’m just going off of what I remember from grade school.” Shiro says frowning pensively.

“I like ‘love polygon’, it sounds cooler.” Lance interjects. Now several of them have begun inputting their own opinion about the proper terminology for four people that are thirsty for a specific member(s). Lance figured that would be the conversation that would carry them through dinner. Or at least it _was_ until Keith and Akira got into another argument.

“That was my bread.” Keith says tensely, breaking the pleasant atmosphere. Lance gulps and watches the events occurring out of the corner of his eye. Akira is holding the last roll in his hand and is frowning at Keith.

“Well I got it first.” Akira replied shrugging and dismissing Keith’s anger, which of course does nothing to quell it.

“Oh that is _so_ predictable!” Keith hisses just as Akira made to take a bite out of his acquired roll. Akira stops at the words and slowly lowers the bread from his mouth.

“What is _so_ predictable?” Akira asks, his lips tugging into a sneer. Keith frowns, glaring harshly at Akira.

“ _You_ , taking stuff all willy nilly. It’s selfish.” Keith says acidly. Akira bristles and slams his hand down on the table, silencing all conversation.

“I didn’t see your name on it and you weren’t going to make a move so why couldn’t I?” He asks, tilting his head in a slightly condescending manner. And _ohh this has just taken a turn for the worst hasn’t it?_

Keith snarls and leans across the table to spit at Akira. “I was going to! Why should I rush anyway? It was _my_ bread roll! _I_ saw it first, I _wanted_ it first so you can go suck a _dick_!”

Akira narrows his eyes at Keith and opens his mouth to say something when Lance suddenly cuts him off.

“Really?” Lance asks incredulously, staring at both Keith and Akira in astonishment. “First I’m a room now I’m a bread roll?” Lance asks, slightly indignant. Keith and Akira both turn to look at him with wide eyes as if suddenly realizing that he was there, which, _rude_ . Because _dammit_ if they’re going to fight over the fairmaiden can they at _least_ realize where she is???

“What’s going on?” McClain whisper asked, leaning into Lance’s side. Lance turns to face him, gazing into his curious blue eyes and releases a slightly exasperated sigh.

“I kissed Akira and now he and Keith are all pissy about it.” Lance whispers back. McClain’s eyes widen in surprise before smirking and letting out a slight whistle.

“Damn you work fast.” McClain huffs as he lets out a chuckle. McClain turns his gaze toward Keith and Akira who were alternating between shooting them glances and glaring at each other.

“Was he good?” McClain asks, slightly louder than normal and Lance kinda wants to kill him but also knows he can’t because if their positions were reversed he knows he would’ve done the same thing- because dammit Lance lives for the drama. And he's also aware that Akira and Keith are now staring at him-Akira curiously and Keith accusingly.

“He was….” Lance trails off, his cheeks heat in embarrassment because the last time he had been forced to confess anything about his romantic life it was to his family after his younger brother loudly asked why he had seen Lance kissing their elderly neighbor’s grandson.

“He was?” McClain probed.

“Better than average?” Lance says quietly. A second of dead silence passes before Keith releases an angry screech and throws his cup at Akira, who manages to duck in time to miss it. But Keith is undeterred and picks up his half-finished plate, which is where Hunk and Tsuyoshi both let out scandalized gasps.

“ _Keith_.” Shiro says in exasperation and grabs Keith’s arm to force him to put down the plate, but just as he does a splash of water drenches both of them. Lance turns to Akira and spots him smugly holding an empty cup.

“Ohohoho.” McClain chuckles in amusement and Lance would normally be inclined to agree with that sentiment if he had not witnessed just how far Keith’s anger could take him, plus he didn’t feel much like watching a live-action version of ‘The Bachelor’ during dinner….actually scratch that if he thought of it that way then things were much more fascinating.

Lance watched Keith and Akira scowl at each other, each held back by their respective Black Paladins.

“Well this dinner has been enlightening so I think I’m gunna hit the hay.” Pidge interjects, standing and backing away out through the door.

“Yeah me too.” Gunderson quips and quickly follows after them.

“I think I might wanna turn in too.” McClain whispers to Lance. Lance turns to gaze into their blue eyes that are still amused but hint at unvoiced exhaustion as well. Lance nods wordlessly, motioning for McClain to follow him and leads McClain to his/Akira’s room, tugging him in. Without any sort of urging McClain immediately begins undressing, pulling down his tight leggings and revealing sky blue boxer briefs that are just a few shades lighter than the ones Lance has on. He unzips his dark blue jacket and throws off the grey shirt he is wearing underneath. Lance appreciates the sight of a mostly naked McClain standing in front of him- it’s not like Lance has never admired himself naked before, he has, but it’s different when you can touch and appreciate it. Lance takes a single step forward and rests his hand on McClain’s bare waist, drumming his fingers against the warm skin.

“Niiiiice.” Lance grins. McClain smirks confidently and immediately reaches both hands forward to tug Lance’s Altean shirt off his body.

“I could say the same thing.” McClain purrs, deftly removing the remaining articles of clothing that Lance is wearing. Both take a step back and silent appreciate each other’s bodies. McClain has a more clearly defined core and a tighter ass but Lance has thicker thighs and broader shoulders. While McClain’s body reveals the exercise imposed on a figure skater and dancer Lance’s reveals more about his constant running from danger and gun swinging. But beauty is beauty and if there is one thing that Lance loves- it’s pretty people.

“Well we’ve had a long day champ, so after you.” Lance says, bowing slightly and motioning towards the neatly made bed that still holds two pillows from when he and Akira had shared the room. If today’s events revealed anything it’s unlikely that Keith would allow Akira to even _step_ anywhere near his room. McClain puts a hand to his chest in flirtatious manner and purposefully brushes his body against Lance’s as he crawls into bed. Lance grins and jumps in after him, pounding on the pillow and letting out a sigh of relief as he finally lays down fully. The room is silent for a few tics before McClain opens his mouth to speak.

“So Akira huh?” He says, the grin clearly heard without even having to turn to look at him. Lance groans and slaps both his cheeks, dragging them down his face. He should’ve known McClain would be fishing for deets as soon as they were alone.

“I have no idea what came over me.” Lance moans.

“I do.” McClain smirks. “You’re in closed quarters with a cute boy that’s been making eyes at you. If it had been me I _guarantee_ things wouldn’t have been as PG.”

“Akira has _not_ been making eyes at me.” Lance protests. “It was just as much a spur of the moment thing for him as it was for me.” Lance has decided that he must’ve misinterpreted that room and bread roll thing as just a weird territorial thing because Keith is a freaking weirdo. McClain raises a brow and inches closer to Lance who has turned on his side, away from him. McClain wraps an arm around Lance and rests his chin on Lance’s shoulder, his slow breaths hitting the side of Lance’s neck.

“I’ve met hundreds of my fans over the years at signings and meet-and-greets. I know when people look at you with less than innocent intentions and Akira, my dude? You probably just fulfilled one of his fantasies today.” McClain whispered against Lance’s neck. Lance shivers and slowly shakes his head.

“Alright so let’s say I believe you, what about Keith? Why’d he go all _‘Off with your head!_ ’ on Akira?” Lance asks, because that part still troubles him. He’s having a hard time believing that Keith’s reaction was about envy and not some sort of self-punishment.

“Jealousy?” McClain shrugs. “I mean we’re a goddamn catch and Akira was making moves on you. Maybe Keith sees you as _his_ man ya know?” McClain murmurs, resting his head against Lance’s.

“The only thing that Keith sees me as is _his_ biggest annoyance.” Lance mutters. Lance feels McClain’s frown against his cheek. McClain’s head lifts off and a second later Lance feels McClain’s plush lips pressing against the side of his cheek.

“Now you know that’s not true.” McClain whispers softly and begins peppering light kisses all along Lance’s face and throat. Lance let’s out slight giggles and curls tighter against McClain as he blows a wet raspberry on Lance’s cheek.

“You’re great.” Lance whispers sincerely. McClain smiles down at him.

“ _We’re_ great.” He corrects and leans down to plant a soft, lingering kiss on the side of Lance’s mouth. Lance smiles and opens his mouth to speak but it is cut off by the sound of his bedroom door sliding open. Lance looks up and catches sight of Keith standing in his door way, his brows furrowed in anger. As soon as his eyes land on Lance and McClain in bed together they widen in surprise and then embarrassment.

“Yeah?” Lance asks as he feels a grinning McClain moan exaggeratedly against his cheek. Keith immediately flushes a bright red, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.

“I..I wanted to make sure Akira went to his new room.” Keith chokes out as McClain begins stroking Lance’s naked chest. Lance is trying desperately to fight down the laughter bubbling in his throat at Keith’s hot gaze on them.

“Haven’t seen him since dinner.” McClain replies hoarsely as he nips at the lobe of Lance’s ear. Lance watches, in fascination, as Keith swallows thickly.

“Y-Yeah, uh, o-okay.” Keith stutters, turning around quickly to leave. Keith stumbles and bumps into the wall, shakily navigating out of the room like he’d somehow forgotten to walk. Keith practically runs away once he gains his footing, the door sliding closed behind him. Lance holds the laughter in for a full second before he burst into gut-busting chortles, McClain soon joins him, his body shaking in amusement.

“D..D-Did you see his _face_ ?” McClain gasps out. Lance nods, tears forming in the corner of his eyes as he tries to wheeze a response. The two lie in bed, trying to quiet their laughter until it’s nothing more than the occasional giggle. Lance clears his throat and turns to face the smiling McClain, gently bumping their foreheads together. Lance’s smile feels genuine, being with McClain fills the void that he’d been carrying in his heart since he left Earth. McClain made him feel warm and accepted, the same way his family did. McClain understood him on a level no one else ever has, which is why Lance might actually, kinda believe that maybe _just maybe_ Keith may be into him.

“Whatcha thinkin bout?” McClain asked softly, curiously gazing at Lance. Lance shrugged, sighing slightly.

“Keith and Akira, I guess?” He mutters. He feels McClain smirk against his cheek and catches his mistake too late.

“Oh two at once? Well aren’t you _daring_.”  McClain whispers. Lance snorts and shakes his head.

“Oh please,” Lance begins. “Like it isn’t _your_ dream to get double teamed.”

McClain raises his brows in astonishment and muffled his laughter in Lance’s shoulder.

“Sometimes I can’t believe you.” McClain says lowly. Lance grins and feels McClain shift closer. The two say nothing, only the hum of the castle filling the silence of the room.

“Do you really think he likes me?” Lance asks softly. McClain is silent for a long moment before responding.

“Honestly? I don’t know. But I kinda hope so.” He says softly. “I haven’t known Keith or Akira real long but I think I might like them in _that_ way ya know?”

Lance almost agrees...but he and Keith? Even if Keith did end up liking him they still have nothing in common. And Keith hasn’t exactly said anything about it. As for Akira? Lance kissed him...but what did that mean? What did he mean to Keith? What did he mean to Akira? Lance sucks in a slow breath and slowly lets it out again.

Could he like Keith? He’d never really thought about it before. All their interactions end in either  annoyance or anger. So Lance doesn’t have much reason to like Keith in a more than casual way...but then again neither does Keith. Lance breathes out slowly, letting himself close his eyes to the rhythmic breathing of McClain.

Maybe he could like Keith….But that’s still a big maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my baby lance knows that keith may like him, but still doubts it :(. And now is also sorting through his own feelings because while objectively he may be attracted to both Akira and Keith he still takes issue with Keith's personality. Our little Keithy gots some seducing to do considering Akira's already so far ahead. (and that's not even tallying McClain who is winning btw)
> 
> p.s after keith left he totally went and told Akira what he saw because while he may hate him he's also the only one he could spill the beans to without feeling awkward.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira finally gets onto that promise of training and lance starts to feel something for the boy he's convinced loves country music even though lance can name more artists than he can

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooo an early update? Yeah I'm surprised too.

McClain was the first one to wake up and it was  _ much _ earlier than what Lance was used to. Both Lance and McClain had gotten into the habit of literally ‘jumping’ out of bed ever since they were young. So when Lance woke up it was to the sudden cold air of the castle hitting his bare body after McClain had flung off the blankets and started to roll out of bed (rolling over Lance in the process). Lance groaned and whined pitifully for the missing blankets. McClain let out a light chuckle and soon he was being tucked back in with a soft kiss pressed to his forehead.

“Sorry.” McClain whispered apologetically. Lance huffed and cracked open an eye to see what was going on only to get an eyeful of McClain’s wonderful posterior as he bent over to touch his toes. Suddenly Lance was much more awake. 

Lance immediately sat up in bed, using both his and McClain’s pillows to serve as a recline and joyfully watched McClain contort his body into various stretches. Lance tried to bite down on his knuckle to prevent a groan from escaping when McClain went into a ‘downward dog’ stretch. But judging from the smirk that creeped across McClain’s face directly after he left the position he didn’t do a good job. McClain breathed deeply and finished his stretches with a flourish before turning and settling down on Lance’s lap.

“What’d ya think?” McClain asked teasingly. Lance grinned and offered him two thumbs up.

“Amazing. 10/10 would bone.”

McClain snorts and stands up offering Lance a hand, which he accepts. Lance stands and groans, twisting his back until he heard a loud crack. McClain tilts his head slightly and watches Lance curiously.

“Do you do morning stretches?” He asks, sounding genuinely inquisitive. Lance shakes his head.

“Nah I’m usually too sore to do anything but get up in the morning-usually I stretch right before daily training.” Lance says as he unlocks the panel to open Akira’s closet. Thankfully all rooms are packed with stacks of towels and extra linens. He picks out the two fluffiest looking towels and tosses one to McClain.

“Huh.” McClain says, grabbing the towel out of the air. “Coach made me get into the habit of stretching in the morning so we wouldn’t waste time during practice.” He offers. Lance makes a slightly interested sound and taps another panel on the wall, revealing what looks to be the Altean equivalent of a laundry chute.

“Is that why you get up so early?” Lance asks as he picks up both his and McClain’s discarded clothing, throwing them into the chute.

“Yeah.” McClain nods, following Lance as he opened the bedroom door and led McClain to the paladin’s shared bathroom, which was really more of a locker room with various storage slots and shower stalls. “I have early ice practice with my coach and rinkmates in the mornings and then my afternoon belongs to my choreographer.” McClain says as Lance leads him to a stall. “I visit mom and dad on the weekends.” McClain says, silently pulling off his underwear and throwing it in the chute Lance opened on the wall. Lance nods and steps into one of the stalls, waiting for the sensors to detect him and turn on the water.

“How is everyone by the way?” Lance asks quietly, hoping that McClain doesn’t detect the ache in his words.

“They’re all good. They were really excited when I told them I got my first assignment for the Grand Prix.” McClain said quietly. Lance opens his mouth to offer reassurement when both their stalls turn on and water shoots from the nozzles on the walls.

“About that…” Lance begins. “I’ve been thinking...and I was just wondering how you got into figure skating anyway? I means it’s not like there’s any rinks in Varadero and I’ve always had an interest in being a pilot for as long as I can remember...so what made you get into it?” Lance asks, pushing against the wall for the soap dispensary, McClain mimics his actions.

“I’m not really sure, I was actually going to ask you the same thing...But maybe it’s just different experiences? I mean overall we’re pretty much the same with the sole exception of our career interests.” McClain says. Lance nods slowly in understanding.

“Like let’s go through a list!” McClain says, turning to grin at Lance with eggshell yellow shampoo coloring his hair.

“Do you like baseball?” McClain asks. Lance offers him a ‘what do you think?’ look before voicing his own question.

“Who was the first person we ever dated?” Lance asks, offering a tilt of his head.

“Malinda Corey!” McClain responds, smiling happily. “Our pen pal from New Jersey when we were sixteen! We lasted four weeks before she dumped us for her brother’s ex-girlfriend.” McClain says giving an exaggerated sniffle Lance pretends to nod solemnly.

“It was a good run. But her new squeeze had a hovercar. How do you compete with that?” Lance asks. 

“..That’s a pretty good point.” McClain whispers before turning to Lance with a sly grin and Lance just knew that whatever question he asked next was going to be dirty.

“Where did you give your first blowjob?” He asks, sounding far too excited. Lance grimaces slightly.

“Ugh. It was in the bathroom of that pizza shack by the beach. We hit on a hot American tourist but damn did he have a weird dick.” Lance says, cringing at the memory of kneeling on a sticky floor and fondling the hot stranger’s junk. McClain nods slowly in agreement. 

“Yeeahhh...the ol’ blowjob in a bathroom is not our proudest moment…” He trails off before regaining his former grin. “But speaking of dicks…” He says, pointedly trying to lean over the stall divider which only reached their shoulders. Lance stares at him for a long moment.

“..Are...are you trying to compare dick sizes with someone who’s pretty much your clone?” Lance asks only somewhat incredulous. McClain gives him an innocent look.

“Is that a ‘no’?” He asks.

“....Of course not, get over here!”

XxX

Much to both their disappointment there was no difference. But it was still a nice experience for Lance to see what his dick looked like from another perspective.

The two walked into breakfast freshly showered and cleanly clothed. It looked like so far only Pidge, Gunderson, Tsuyoshi, and Hunk were up. Both Hunk and Pidge gave Lance double takes when he slid into an open seat with a plate of goo.

“You’re up early.” Pidge notes with a raised brow. Lance grins and motions to McClain who is currently greeting Tsuyoshi with an excited smile.

“You can thank  _ that _ beautiful soul and his early bird habits.” Lance says, using his spoon to point at McClain who happily waves back. Pidge raises a brow before shrugging and returning to toying with Gunderson's laptop. Lance shovels goo in his mouth, not even bothering to chew as he quickly swallows- he hadn’t gotten to eat his fill of dinner the night before due to the outbreak of violence that Lance can blame on Keith and also sort of McClain...and also himself too because he was the one that swapped spit with Akira in the first place...okay so _ a lot  _ of people were to blame for Lance going to bed with a half-empty stomach. Just as Lance finished scraping the last of his goo into his mouth Akira appeared in the doorway, freezing once he caught sight of Lance and McClain (who had by now slinked over to Lance’s side and was eating at a much slower rate). In an attempt to showcase his goodwill Lance raised a hand in greeting and motioned for Akira to join them, pulling out a chair beside him. Akira approached slowly and hesitantly, sitting down as gently as possible as if wary of the action. After pushing the chair in Akira stared at Lance for a moment before slowly pointing to his own mouth.

“You got a little uh..” He said without elaborating much. Lance lifted a hand to his mouth and felt the slight wetness of food goo painting his cheeks. Flushing slightly, he immediately reached out for one of the cloth napkins laying in the center of the table. Just as he began wiping away the mess McClain leaned over Lance’s body in order whisper to Akira, a mischievous smile on his face.

“It's alright. We like when it gets all over our face.” He said, his voice slightly hoarse. Lance had to stop and roll that over in his head for a moment because  _ holy shit that was genius  _ and he’s kinda jealous that  _ he _ didn’t think of it. Well actually, technically speaking, he did.

Lance turns his head in time to catch Akira gaping, his cheeks flushing a fiery red. Looks like McClain may have broken him this time, that was a shame.

Lance was proved wrong when Akira coughed and awkwardly fumbled the center table for the Altean equivalent of a breakfast bar, his hands trembling. Akira grabbed one and stuffed it in his pocket before pushing away from the table and turning to face the two of them.

“McClain…” Akira began, his voice slightly squeaky. McClain rose his head up from his plate, raising a questioning brow to Akira who fidgeted in place. “I was wondering if we could begin your training today.” He said, his voice more confident as he straightened up, and crossed his hands over his chest. Lance angled his head to look at McClain and caught a small smile beginning to form on his lips.  _ ‘A fond smile’  _ he thought to himself quietly.

“Yeah. I’d love to.” McClain responded, standing up from the table. Akira’s eyes brightened at the response before he cleared his throat and offered Lance a slightly nervous look, wringing his hands together.

“You can join us if you want.” He said, gulping after voicing his offer. Lance tilted his head, pretending to consider it before jumping up with a grin.

“Sure, I’ll join.” Lance said happily. “Besides, I can show off to McClain and wipe the floor with you all at once!” He added with a teasing smile. Akira grinned at him before scoffing.

“You can do your best.” He said before turning to walk out the door as if that made him  _ cool _ or something (it kinda did but Lance would never admit that). McClain and Lance both followed him after shooting the remaining occupants of the room a goodbye. Akira was leading them through the halls, the Blue Paladins right on his tail.

“We need to see Princess first, she’s got McClain’s bayard.” Akira reports, tilting his head back to look at them. Lance instinctively attempts to recall where his own bayard is residing, likely along with his armor sitting in the dressing room where Coran had supplied him his current outfit. Akira makes the final turn to lead them to the control deck, the door sliding open upon sensing them. McClain takes a slow step into the room, eyes sparking in amazement at the projection of Earth at the front of the room and the Balmera crystal glimmering brightly. Allura, Princess, Coran, Hieronymous, Shiro, and Shirogane were all gathered in a small circle, speaking in low tones.

“Princess!” Akira calls out from the entrance causing the gathered group to turn to them in confusion.

“Yes? What is it Akira?” Princess asks, her head tilted in question. Akira reaches back and takes McClain’s hand, pulling him forward and presenting him to the group.

“We need McClain’s bayard. I’m going to be helping him with training and figured weapons would be a good place to start.” Akira says. Princess’s face is blank for a full second before she breaks out into a full toothed smile.

“You’re training together?” She asks, sounding excited. Akira and McClain both nod.

“I don’t have much experience with this stuff so Akira offered to help me.” McClain says sounding somewhat shy. Lance can understand that, the two of them were kind of prideful and announcing to people that you fell short was a blow to that pride.

Princess  nodded in understanding and summoned the bayard from her battle suit before marching over to McClain and offering it to him. McClain reached out and slowly grasped it. Before allowing him to pull away Princess grasped McClain’s hand and looked at him earnestly.

“You will be a fine Paladin.” She said, smiling brightly. Lance saw the hesitation in McClain’s eyes before it was wiped away and replaced by a look of determination.

“Thank You.” McClain replied, nodding and turning to exit the room alongside Akira and Lance. Just as Lance turned to leave he caught sight of Shirogane raising an amused eyebrow in Akira’s direction, who flushed and ducked his head down. Lance grinned and waved back to the gathered group before skipping out of the room. Akira was looking down as he walked but Lance could see him sporting scarlet ears and grinned in amusement. Unlike Keith, Akira was so much easier to read, he didn’t hide his emotions as much around Lance...but maybe that was his own fault? He and Keith didn’t exactly get off to the best start…

A sudden tugging on his arm grabbed Lance’s attention. He looked up and saw a smiling McClain tugging him into the elevator, Akira waiting patiently inside. Lance took a step forward and slid in between the two other occupants, waiting for the doors slide shut. The three ride down in silence, but it’s soon broken by McClain who has mischief painted all over his face.

“Soooo.” He begins. “This must bring back a lot of memories for you two.” He says slyly.

Akira chokes and Lance gives him a passing glance.

“W-we didn’t do much!” Akira protests. McClain’s grin widens and he leans into Lance’s side.

“Oooo is that a complaint?” He asks.

“No!” Akira replies, his face a soft cherry color. “O-or yes? Nevermind!” He yells and turns back to face the doors of the lift. 

“What about you Lance? Aren’t you the least bit upset that your sexytimes were cut short?” McClain asks, turning Lance’s head to face him with a single finger. McClain’s lips are less than a hair’s breadth away and Lance can feel his warm breaths hitting his mouth. 

“Wouldn’t you be?” Asks in a faux innocent voice. Akira sounds like he’s dying and McClain just chuckles with a grin on his face.

“Touché.” He says and lets his finger trail across Lance’s bottom lip as he pulls away. McClain is trying to kill Akira. He’s honestly attempting murder through the use of his sexuality...what an icon.

The doors slide open and Akira immediately bolts out, rushing to the training deck with quick steps. McClain and Lance follow him at a much more lazy pace. The two arrive and spot Akira standing in the center of the room, having already shep his red jacket and summoned his bayard.

“Is that a sword?” McClain asks, entering the room and walking to meet Akira in the middle.

“Yep” Lance and Akira both say at once.

“The bayards change forms to suit their paladins- everyone has a different one.” Lance informs him and moves to the side, keeping a wide berth of them. Akira nods in agreement with Lance’s words and flips his sword around a few times, probably to impress McClain.

“That’s right. Mine’s a sword and when you take yours out it’ll transform into your weapon.” Akira says, motioning for McClain to take out the bayard Princess had handed off to him just a few minutes ago. McClain reached into the pocket he had stored it in and pulled out the bayard, staring down at it in confusion for a few moments before it disappeared in a white light, leaving behind a blue rifle identical to Lance’s.

McClain gave a whistle and turned the rifle over in his hands, examining its various parts.

“This just got so real.” He breathed and held the rifle in both hands, waiting for Akira to continue. 

“Well your weapon is long range and mine is short range, with some practice we could develop some great teamwork.” He says, a small smile curling at his lips. McClain nods, returning the soft look before examining the rifle in his hands once again. Lance takes a step forward, standing behind McClain and sliding his hands over McClain’s, just barely caressing them.

“There’s a dial on the side that determines intensity of the shot.” Lance explains, whispering into McClain’s ear and enjoying the shiver he feels race up his spine at the action. Lance points towards the blue piece near the barrel of the gun. “The higher the setting, the more powerful the shots and the harder it is to control.” Lance adds, directing McClain’s hands for the correct placement. “Lowest setting is just a mild stunner.” Lance says before stepping away and motioning for Akira to take over. Akira nods affirmatively, his eyes looking vaguely cloudy.

“Begin Target Training.” Akira calls out, his voice cracking like a prepubescent boy. “Level One!”

Several small grey orbs arose from opening in the floor and began flying sluggishly around the room in a circular pattern.

“Alright just hit as many targets as you can so we can gauge your skill level.” Akira says, his voice notably calmer, as he moves to stand beside Lance. McClain’s eyes narrow in concentration and Lance smiles proudly as McClain begins quickly and carefully shooting at the various bots surrounding him. His reaction time was slower than Lance’s but his accuracy was dead on. Looks like all those summers spent shooting cans off the fence with a slingshot weren’t a waste afterall. 

McClain slowly rises up in levels before Akira has the program tap out at Level Eight, impressive considering it was his first time using the program and also since Level Five was the end of the intermediate testing and distractions were now being thrown into the mix. Lance had noticed McClain beginning to struggle during Level Six when the orbs began flashing blinding lights and throwing off McClain’s concentration. Lance claps his hands together, bouncing over to McClain’s side once the program is called off.

“Beautiful, stunning work!” Lance says, using one of sleeves to wipe away the sweat gathering on McClain’s forehead.

“I can go for longer.” McClain insists, looking between Akira and Lance. Lance feels his mouth moving before he can stop himself.

“Oh I know you can baby, we’ve always been good at that.” Lance says. Akira chokes on air behind him and McClain begins snickering like a middle school boy hearing a dick joke...which it was. Well, actually it was more of a masterbation joke. Akira clears his throat, letting out a high pitched hum before making his way over to the two.

“You did well though.” Akira begins, stopping in front of Lance and sandwiching himself between him and McClain. Lance wonders if it was intentional.

“With some more daily practice you could be a hell of a shot.” Akira says, his eyes shining in happiness as McClain gave him a wide grin. 

“What a coincidence!” Lance exclaims, clapping his hands on Akira’s shoulders. “You know what my team calls me?” Lance asks, not really asking for an answers. “The call me ‘The Sharpshooter’.” Lance brags, waving his hand around like it’s not a big deal.

“Since when?” A voice calls out from the entrance of the training deck. Lance tilts his head back and spots a narrow-eyed Keith marching into the room like a rebel without a cause. Man didn’t that boy  _ ever _ get tired of being so angry all the time? He was like Old Faithful-- just always erupting.  _ Ohhh  _ that would make a good masterbation joke! He’d have to file it away to share with McClain later.

“Uh since always?” Lance replies with a snooty voice. Keith stops right by Lance’s side and has his eyes locked on Lance’s hands where they’re still resting on Akira’s shoulders.

“Shiro said you guys came down here for training.” Keith replies simply, narrowing his eyes on Akira when he opened his mouth to speak.

“Yep.” Lance responds popping the ‘p’. “Akira’s going to be training McClain and I figured I’d tag along and show them both a thing or two.” Lance says, wiggling excitedly in place. Keith turns his eyes away from Akira and instead locks them on Lance.

“But you  _ hate _ extra training.” He protests. Lance takes his hands off Akira’s shoulders and shrugs.

“So what?” He asks. Keith squints his eyes in confusion before straightening and giving the three of them considering looks.

“So you’re  _ just _ training?” He asks, sounding somewhat suspicious.

“Well we’re not having an orgy now are we?” Lance replies. Akira and Keith flush simultaneously, it’s almost adorable.

Keith coughs before responding. “So then you wouldn’t mind if I stuck around?” 

Lance cocks his head and sends McClain a questioning look, this session was ,after all, to hone  _ his _ skills.

“I don’t mind.” McClain says before sending Keith a lascivious grin. “We can always use more hands.”

Keith gulps before turning to Lance.

“W-well then what are we waiting for?” He says starting to move forward before getting blocked by Akira.

“You know it’s rude to just invite yourself into our training session.” Akira says tensely, standing less than an inch from Keith. Keith immediately scowls and bumps Akira back with his chest.

“You know what else is rude?” He asks, voice lowering to hostile levels. “Assuming I  _ asked _ for your opinion.”

Lance lets out a whistle, slightly impressed because  _ damn _ it did not seem like Akira nor Keith had yet forgotten the total smackdown that happened only a day ago. 

McClain loudly clears his throat drawing the attention of both Red Paladins.

“Soooo my training?” He says idly swinging his bayard which is still in rifle form. Akira pushes away from Keith ,causing him to stumble, and approaches McClain with an apologetic look.

“Oh ,uh, yeah.” He says, nervously rubbing the back of his head before sharpening in focus. “Since we did some weapons evaluations I figured I could show you some hand to hand? It’s what I’m the best at.” Akira offers. McClain gains a considering look on his face before shooting Akira a grin.

“Alright...but are you sure it’s not just an excuse to feel me up?” He asks playfully. Akira’s eyes widen in shock as if he hadn’t even considered the notion.

“Cuz I really wouldn’t really mind all that much...you, feeling me up that is.” McClain whispers, gazing at Akira with lustful eyes. Akira is as still as a statue, Lance is pretty sure he isn’t even breathing. Just when he's ready to poke him to see if he’s even still  _ alive _ , Akira suddenly shakes himself out of his stupor. He fiddles with his hands then wordlessly gesturing for McClain to follow him (which he happily does). Lance and Keith stand side to side, silently watching as Akira leads McClain to the other side of the deck. Akira abruptly turns and appears to be instructing McClain on one thing or another before gently reaching out and moving McClain’s body into a basic defense stance. When Akira’s hands are rested on McClain’s hips McClain says something with a wicked grin that causes Akira to break out into a hot red flush, trailing down his neck and into his shirt.

“ _ Damn _ that boy’s got some serious game.” Lance says, smiling widely and fully aware that he is also complimenting himself. Keith snorts at his words and Lance immediately feels ire begin to bubble in him.

“What’s that mean?” Lance asks, feeling slightly defensive.  _ ‘Of course he wouldn’t agree which is just another reason to debunk the idea that he might actually like me.’ _ Lance thinks to himself.

Keith crosses his arms, turning to face Lance with a smirk.

“If McClain’s such a great flirt? Then how come you’re so bad at it?” He asks raising a brow. Lance’s eyes narrow and he huffs turning to face Keith.

“Hey.  _ I _ am a great flirt.” Lance says, poking Keith in the chest with a finger. Keith still looks disbelieving.

“You only say that because I’ve had a bad streak, but come on we’re in  _ space _ ! I need some time to adjust my strategy.” Lance says, waving his arms around to make his point. “Believe me, back on Earth  _ everyone _ wanted a piece of me.” Lance insists. And it was true...mostly. Every relationship Lance has ever had has been based on pure physical attraction, nothing deeper. But he’s still holding out on the hope that one day there’d come a Prince/Princess Charming to sweep Lance off his feet and take him on picnics, cuddle with him, and touch his butt.

The sound of laughter cuts into Lance’s daydreams and both he and Keith turn to see McClain lying on top of a fallen Akira who is face down on the floor of the training deck. Both of them are giggling happily, shooting each other amused looks. Lance feels something odd flutter in his chest at the sight of someone with Keith’s face looking so...carefree. Mr.stick-up-his-butt is usually too busy having a stick up his butt that he rarely ever shows such a relaxed exterior. Or at least...he never shows it to Lance. Lance doesn’t know why his chest tightens at that thought but immediately tries to swish it away.

“Looks like McClain took Akira down.” Lance says, sounding more smug than he feels. Keith scoffs, and turns his head away from the scene.

“Please, as if  _ Akira _ is some kind of indicator of  _ my _ skills.” He says sounding far too haughty for his own good. Lance raises a brow and turns to Keith, a challenging look in his eye.

“Well then if you’re so confident why don’t you and I have a go?” Lance says, an excited grin curling at his lips. Keith finally turns to face him, his eyes shining in interest. 

“You and me?” He asks. Lance nods.

“You and me.” Lance says. Keith looks like he’s thinking but then grins, taking a step away from Lance and settling near the center of the room.

“Alright. But I’ve gotta warn you, Shiro taught me how to fight back in the Garrison. I’ve got experience.” Keith says, smiling confidently. Lance rolls his eyes and begins cracking his knuckles and stretching his shoulders.

“Yeah? Well I’ve got fours sisters and three brothers.” Lance replies, settling into a stance with both his fists raised. He’s roughhoused with his siblings enough to have a basic idea of what to do. A majority of the moves he knows involve hair pulling, biting, and fake crying but Keith never laid down any rules sooooo.

Keith smirks and attacks first, aiming a punch for Lance’s shoulder which he dodges. Almost immediately after the first misses Lance feels his feet leave the ground and before he knows it is staring up at Keith’s stupidly smug face. Keith opens his mouth to speak but Lance cuts him off as he launched himself at Keith’s knees, forcing him to topple forward onto Lance.

“Hah!” Lance says, wrapping his arms arms around Keith and squeezing him so he can’t move his arms. Keith grunts and attempts to stretch his arms out, only to have them restrained.

“Ugh. You cheated!” Keith exclaims, slightly indignant. Lance scoffs and pushes away from Keith, turning, and standing back up.

“Yeah, right.” Lance replies, smirking. “You never called the match or pinned me down which means it was fair game. Which meeeeaaannnssss.” Lance says turning around to face a frowning Keith. “ _ I won. _ ”

Keith rolls his eyes, and stands up to dust himself off. “That doesn’t count as a win.” He says, huffing.

“It does so!” Lance replies.

“Does not” Keith returns.

“Does  _ so _ !” 

“Does  _ not _ !”

“Does  _ so so so _ !”

“Does  _ not not not _ !”

“Does  _ so so so so so so so so so so _ !!!”

“Does  _ not  _ **_infinity_ ** !” 

Lance gasps in offense, before narrowing his eyes.

“Does not  _ infinity  _ **_times two_ ** !” Lance replies.

“You can’t do that!” Keith yells, frowning. Lance crosses his arms and turns his nose up.

“Well. I. Just.  _ Did _ .”

Keith gapes and crosses his arms in frustration, huffing angrily. Lance feels a small smile tug at his lips as the two stand together, heads turned away from each other. Despite their differences Lance  _ does _ enjoy being around Keith, he makes things interesting and for a single moment he thinks that maybe if Keith  _ did _ like him...then that wouldn’t be  _ so _ bad. 

The sound of scuffles catch their attention and Lance slowly turns his head and sees Akira and McClain rolling across the floor of the training deck, taking turns pinning the other to the ground. McClain’s legs are wrapped tightly around Akira’s hips while Akira has a hold on both of McClain’s wrists. The two aren’t so much fighting as they are...playing. It’s so sickeningly adorable Lance almost feels like he has to turn away. Keith bristles by his side and Lance tilts his head toward him and is startled to see Keith’s forehead creased in...sadness? Lance opens his mouth to speak but doesn’t get a chance as Keith abruptly turns on his heel and leaves the training deck. Lance is still for a full second before running after him. Lance manages to catch Keith just before he enters the elevator.

“Wait!” Lance calls out. Thankfully Keith freezes in place, not taking the final step into the elevator. Lance reaches Keiths side, maneuvering around him to block the way into the elevator.

“Keith.” Lance breathes out. Keith is avoiding his eyes, looking towards the floor. Lance chasing after him was such an impulse move- it was a  _ Keith _ move. He doesn’t know what to say but at the same time he  _ does _ only that it’s such a loaded question, one he’s not even  _ sure _ he wants the answer to.

“Do you like me?” Lance asks, his mouth moving faster than his brain. Keith’s head whips up, his eyes widened in shock.

“What?” He asks hoarsely.

“Me.” Lance says, pointing to himself. “Do  _ you _ like  _ me _ ...romantically.”

Keith is staring at him, seemingly stunned and not answering which does  _ not _ make Lance comfortable. It’s a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question. So why isn’t he responding?

“Do you like me?” Lance repeats, much slower. Hoping that maybe Keith will answer if he says it again because unease is toiling away in his gut and he  _ doesn’t _ like it.

“Why...why would you ask me that?” Keith asks, a crease in forehead forming.

That...that’s not the response Lance wants. He wants an answer! Does Keith Kogane  _ like _ him? Does he have  _ feelings _ for him?

“Do you like me?” Lance repeats, stronger this time. “Like me like...like how Akira and McClain like each other?” Lance says softly and only the slightest bit desperate because he just needs to  _ know _ . Keith’s eyes widen even further. 

“Why...why do you have to bring  _ them _ up?” Keith asks, a slight edge to his voice. Lance frowns.

“Because...they’re just like us.” Lance says quietly. Keith clenches his fists and Lance takes the tiniest step back.

“They are  _ nothing _ like us.” Keith says fiercely, looking up at Lance with fire in his eyes. “And  _ we _ are nothing like  _ them _ ! What  _ we _ have is  **_nothing_ ** like what  _ they _ do!” Keith grits out sounding quite bitter. Lance rears back in shock at the sheer... _ emotion _ of the words.

“But Keith…” Lance says, his voice weak. “Does that mean you don’t…”  _ ‘like me’ _ he mentally adds. Keith is avoiding eye contact. He’s not answering. Why isn’t he answering?

“This was stupid.” Keith mumbles but Lance gets the feeling he’s not talking to him. That still doesn’t stop Lance from feeling like a void has taken residence in his chest, right where his heart used to be.

Keith slowly side steps Lance to enter the elevator. Lance doesn’t stop him. 

Just as the doors slide closed Lance can only think of one thing.

_ Keith doesn’t like him. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm about to dropkick keith kogane in the face like goddamn it boy why can’t you be better at feelings??? He’s your man!!! Go get himmmmm!!!!
> 
> Seriously that boy’s got so many issues to resolve next chapter (which at the latest may go up monday). He’s all broken up because he sees how much better mcclain and akira’s relationship is compared to his and lance’s and thinks that he and lance are just destined for failure not even considering that lance might like their relationship just the way it is!!!!
> 
> p.s there's only 1 chapter and an epilogue left


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sometimes...things get worse...before they get better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAVE YOU GUYS SEEN THE ART THAT GOES WITH ch.8 and ch.3 of this fic!!!!??? it's by alexandralumetta (aka the creator of the blue says au) and they're amazing!!!!!  
> [ch 8 art](http://alexandralumetta.tumblr.com/post/163300319720/i-got-around-to-read-the-8th-chapter-of-got-the%20%0A) [ch 3 art](http://alexandralumetta.tumblr.com/post/161955741750/hi-thank-you-so-much-for-the-opportunity-to-write)

Lance McClain is a confident person. Ask anyone. They might call it “arrogance” but it was close enough to the truth.

Has Lance been rejected before? Yes.

Has he ever been _truly_ heartbroken about it? Only like six times- but that’s still a pretty good number.

In fact  it's _because_ of those past experiences that he can move on and become stronger as a result. Well...at least that’s what his love horoscope used to say, but it seemed like that advice was much better in theory than in practice because ,currently, Lance feels more like _someone has ripped out  his still beating heart out of his chest and served it to him for dinner_ -but that might still be an exaggeration. He said the same thing back at the Garrison after a friendly game of ‘truth or dare’ when Hunk was dared to kiss the prettiest person in the room and planted one on Cassidy Lincoln’s cheek over _Lance_ who was sitting _right next to him_!

Yeah Lance is still bitter about that even though he assured Hunk he wasn’t.

But this wasn’t a simple case of your best friend disrespecting your good looks, it was a case of your possible lover basically shooting you down... Lance was still on the border about how to feel because on one hand he only had budding romantic feelings for Keith, but on the other hand he had _budding romantic feelings for Keith_.  Around this point in time Lance would usually go cry into Hunk’s arms and eat the snacks from the care packages his parents sent him. But there were two things wrong with that plan, number one he had no snacks on him and number two Lance couldn’t find it within himself to move after the elevator carrying Keith slid shut (because exaggeration or not his heart still hurt). So rather than seek out his best friend, he simply slid down the wall and curled into a ball, kinda dramatic, even for him, but it made him feel better ,being small, it was like he’d make himself less of a target. And that’s also how McClain and Akira found Lance, after leaving the training deck. He heard both their footsteps slow to a stop beside him and glanced up through his hands to see their faces. McClain’s head was tilted in confusion while Akira’s face was creased in slight concern.

“Hey.” McClain greeted.

“Hi.” Lance mumbled before going back to burying his face in his hands. Lance felt McClain kneel down beside him and begin stroking his side like he was some crying puppy that needed comforting...he was right but Lance wasn’t about to vocalize it.

“Is this a ‘I’m sad because life is stupid’ curl up or ‘I just got rejected and life is stupid’ curl up?” McClain asks gently while simultaneously hitting the nail on the head about Lance’s actions. Lance huffs and lets out a muffled response.

“Second one.” He says quietly. McClain’s face creases and he lets out a slight _‘oh’_ sound. The petting stops for a second and Lance is about to whine for him to keep going when suddenly two hands are being placed under his body and he’s being lifted into McClain’s arms. Lance lets out a surprised grunt and wraps his arms around McClain’s neck as he begins to carry Lance into the elevator, Akira following closely behind him.

“So what happened?” McClain asks as he uses one hand to softly tug at the curled ends of Lance’s hair while the other is wrapped under his thighs to hold him close. Lance feels a weary sigh slither out of him and releases the breath against McClain’s neck.

“Keith.” He began, his voice low. “...I got...rejected by Keith.” He mumbles, his words muffled by McClain’s collarbone. Lance feels McClain’s shoulders tense at his response.

“What?” Someone asks incredulously and Lance lifts his head up and to see Akira staring at him, brows furrowed in disbelief. Why would he be? Lance isn't sure. The confusion he feels is simply overpowered by the emotions he has at seeing someone with Keith’s face so soon after being shot down. The experience still left a bitter taste in Lance’s mouth.

“I got rejected, refused, declined.” Lance said quietly, his voice strained with barely concealed hurt. Akira’s eyes turned confused, the same way that _Keith’s_ did when he didn’t understand what Lance was saying. Before he had a chance to voice his question McClain lightly bumped his head against Lance’s. Lance lifted his gaze and looked into McClain’s eyes which were staring down at Lance in understanding and suddenly Lance didn’t feel so alone.

“Are you alright?” He asks, his face completely sincere in the question. Lance should laugh it off, shrug it off as just ‘Lance being Lance’ but...he doesn’t want to...because he feels hurt. He feels humiliated. But most of all he feels stupid. _‘This was stupid’_ he hears Keith growl in his head.

“No.” Lance says quietly. “No I’m not.”

McClain and Akira don’t say anything the rest of the ride up.

XxX

McClain is a fast learner because upon arriving to the correct floor he immediately heads in the direction of their room. Lance knows that McClain knows perfectly well that he can walk on his own and doesn't need McClain to carry him but there’s just something reassuring about being swaddled in someone’s arms. McClain must also know this because he doesn't put Lance down to walk on his own two feet, which Lance is grateful for. Akira is right beside McClain the entire time and occasionally glances at Lance as they turn corners and finally arrive at their door, which  immediately slides open. McClain walks in and gently deposits Lance on the bed in a sitting position before sliding in beside him, wrapping an arm around Lance’s shoulder and letting his head rest against him. Akira leaps over their outstretched legs and lands on his other side, bouncing the bed and helping to form a barrier around Lance.

“What’s going on?” Lance asks, looking up at McClain with a questioning gaze as he begins gently running his fingers through Lance’s hair, sending shivers up his spine as he lightly scratches his scalp.

“Well... _you_ are upset and need some TLC.” McClain explains and pulls Lance’s face close in order to plant a soft, lingering kiss on his cheek.

“What's TLC?” Akira asks with a furrow in his brows as he curls up to Lance's other side, pressing tightly against him. Lance ignores the throb of hurt that pulses in his chest at the innocent action.

“Tender loving care.” McClain explains patiently, and playfully tugs at a lock of Akira's hair. Lance looks between the two and feels his small smile become strained. McClain turns back to him and must catch something in his expression because he frowns.

“He just turned you down? Just like that?” McClain asks, a brow raised. Lance wordlessly nods, swallowing back the ball of emotion that has begun to form in his throat because like _hell_ he’ll give Keith Kogane the benefit of his tears.

“His loss.”

Lance looks up, eyes widened in surprise. McClain is looking down at him with a serious expression. He lifts his hand and begins softly stroking Lance’s cheek with his thumb, occasionally brushing Lance’s bottom lip.

“You are a goddamn treasure. You understand me?” He says softly, a gentle smile forming. Lance unconsciously nods in agreement as McClain snuggles him closer and lightly pecks his forehead. This is...not how comforting sessions usually go for Lance. Typically he’ll find a soul willing to hear the pains of his heart (usually Hunk) spend an hour ,at most, waxing about his broken spirit and then receive some words of encouragement. That’s about it…

Most people didn’t take Lance’s broken heart as something to be taken seriously, heck _Lance_ sometimes didn’t take it seriously. Rejection was still rejection and it hurt every time but Lance had grown to expect it. He didn’t usually have someone on the side ready to reaffirm his beauty or his worth. But McClain saying it was...nice. Really really nice. Lance felt a watery smile tug on his lips and buried his face in McClain’s neck, and if McClain felt a few stray tears land on his shoulder then he certainly wasn’t going to say anything.

Lance was content to lay there and let his bruised heart be soothed by the presence of McClain…and Akira who was tucked into his side and gently fiddling with Lance’s fingers, not saying anything and just providing the comfortable weight of his presence.

“Thank you.” Lance whispers against McClain’s neck. Lance feels McClain’s smile against the top of his head.

“I figured this would be better than what I originally planned.” McClain shrugs, lightly jostling Lance’s head.

“Which was?” Lance asks, raising a brow and tightening his grip of Akira’s fingers, intertwining them together.

“We take our clothes off and get weird with each other.” McClain says casually. Akira sucks in a sharp breath and tightens his grip on Lance’s hand. Lance releases a snort of laughter and takes a breath, subtly drying his wet eyes on McClain’s jacket. McClain releases a similar laugh, his shaking shoulders causing Lance to lift his head and rest it on the wall behind him. Lance sighs deeply and slowly lets it out, looking over their room and listening as McClain quieted his laughter and Akira finally returned to a normal breathing pattern. Despite McClain’s words and efforts Lance still feel the lingering ache of rejection still toiling away inside him.

“It's such a shame though.” McClain sighs suddenly, shaking his head. Lance looks at him in confusion. McClain turns to him and grins. “You would’ve rocked his world.”

Lance freezes for a moment then feels a small grin begin to creep up on his face and lets out a slight noise of agreement.

“Yeah.” Lance says, smiling. “I really would've.”

“Yeah you would.” McClain replies, smiling proudly and Lance feels something warm curl in his gut. It’s silent for a long time after that.

XxX

Lance doesn’t know if avoiding Keith was childish or justified. Lance had never been the most mature of the paladins so it may very well be both. Akira and McClain seemed to think so since they were his whistle blowers for when Keith was in the area. Lance wasn’t even certain if Akira was actually looking out for him, it seemed more plausible that he was just doing it because he enjoyed getting on Keith’s nerves (Lance knows that Keith can hold a grudge and would not be surprised to discover that Akira was the same and still held bitter feelings about getting his ass handed to him in an elevator). It also seemed as though McClain may have tipped Tsuyoshi and Hunk off about what happened because both had offered him sympathetic smiles and a hug after dinner (one of the most awkward dinners to date for him considering Lance proceeded to avoid looking anywhere in Keith’s general direction for it’s entirety.)

For the next few days as McClain further settled in, both he and Akira were Lance’s constant companions- traveling with him to the hanger to visit Blue, messing with Pidge and Gunderson when it got late, visiting Hunk and Tsuyoshi to hang out for awhile, and poking into the command center of the ship to check on the rest of the team. As the days dragged on Lance knew that sooner or later Allura and Princess would announce the need to wormhole travel and thus returning everyone to their proper universes and separating them all. But Lance wasn’t sure he wanted that to happen. McClain was...special. He was unlike anyone Lance had ever met before- he understood Lance, understood his humor, his moods, his touchy nature. He understood all of it and accepted him as is, the only other person who’d done that was Hunk and Lance was always worried that he was burdening his friend whenever he was feeling particularly exuberant. And Akira...he didn't always understand Lance’s words or actions but he tried his best and expressed a genuine interest in Lance (whether it was romantic or platonic was a thought that Lance did not want to have to deal with so soon after Keith so if Akira’s touch lingered on him for longer than could be considered necessary, he ignored it.)

Lance enjoyed being around both of them, they made him feel better about himself and just everything in general...and in return he also got to see their own relationship. Lance didn’t even see it at first. The two were touchy, a hand on the shoulder here, an arm around the hip there, a playful tug on each other’s clothes or hair. There were wandering eyes and small smiles. They were obviously interested in one another. That didn’t bother Lance. Just because _his_ love life didn’t work out didn’t mean that McClain’s couldn’t. But it was still fascinating to see another version of himself and Keith getting along so seamlessly, in a way that he and Keith had never been able to. It was...reassuring. The idea that just because things may not have worked out in _his_ universe didn’t eliminate the possibility that they would work out in _another_. It was an oddly comforting thought. Spending his day with the two of them until Lance was forced to return to his own universe with his own team was how he had believed the rest of their time together in a single Universe would go. And Lance was content with that.

Up until he caught sight of Keith lingering in spots they inhabited, popping up when the three were settled in a certain part of the castle. He wasn’t even doing anything.  He wasn’t approaching them or talking to them. He was just staying close by, maintaining a short distance away.  Almost like he was keeping an eye on them. And it Ticked. Lance. The. Fuck. Off.

Lance had pretty much come to the conclusion that Keith’s rejection of him was rooted in his actual and very real dislike of Lance. All those fights with Akira, interventions between him and Akira were all based on his own desire to not see any version of himself express an interest in Lance. The realization hurt, he would admit that. But it was soon followed by a wave of anger because _who did Keith Kogane think he was_ ? Lance has spent two days in close quarters with McClain and Akira and has seen more sparks fly between those two than in any other romance or novela he’s _ever seen_ . Lance was rooting for them, in fact he would even say he was their _number one fan_ (alongside Hunk and Tsuyoshi) so like shit he was going to let Keith ruin the budding romance between McClain and Akira.

XxX

Lance wasn’t exactly sure when he decided he was going to start the ‘McKogane Defense Squad’ but he knows it happened sometime between breakfast and dinner. Keith had been doing his usual creeping, McClain and Akira ignoring him upon Lance’s request and Lance decided then that he was going to protect McClain and Akira. The two of them had spent the entire night with Lance, nursing his hurt feelings and heart. This was the least Lance could do in return.

So when Keith slinked into the room like the _snake he is_ Lance shot him a narrow eyed glare and carefully pushed Akira closer to McClain. Lance corralled the two of them into situations where they were forced to be closer than normal, they certainly didn't seem to have a problem with it considering the smiles and giggles they each gave. Lance noticed that each time the two did get closer Keith would always look away with his jaw tensed. Lance hoped it bothered him, hoped deeply that it did. But Keith never said anything, just looked away when he saw McClain and Akira close together. Lance was never a vindictive person- Did he hold grudges? Absolutely. Did he tend to vocalize his dislike for certain  people? Yes. But was he malicious? No. The answer was ‘no’ to that one. Lance wasn’t seeking to hurt Keith, annoy him and make him see that his controlling ass couldn’t dictate people. Yes. But Lance wasn’t looking to hurt Keith. He just wasn’t that type of person.

So one day when three of them were lounging on a couch together, Keith lingering by the entrance, Lance didn’t think when he allowed Akira to lift his hand and gently caress it against his face as he and McClain were engaged in a conversation about Outer space (Lance telling McClain about the various constellations visible from Earth because McClain’s basic knowledge didn’t hold a candle to the archive of information that Lance memorized). A sudden choking sound from the entrance had Lance stopping mid-sentence and looking in Keith’s general direction with a frown. Keith was staring at Lance with wide-eyes, his face twisted in shock. Lance didn’t even get a chance to voice an annoyed ‘what?’ before Keith turn tailed and ran out of the sitting room. Lance sat in stunned silence, watching the empty entrance with a raised brow.

“What was that about?” Lance asked, turning to McClain who looked equally confused. Lance turned to Akira and saw him staring at the spot Keith used to be with a considering expression.

“Akira?” Lance asks. Akira turns to face Lance, his head tilted in a pensive expression.

“Are you alright?” McClain asks, his forehead creased in slight concern. A strange expression flickers across Akira’s face before he turns back to face Lance and McClain with a more focused gaze and a soft expression.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a passing thought.” he replies, before shifting closer and leaning against Lance’s shoulder. Lance and McClain give each other questioning looks before shrugging and attempting to recall where they left off in the conversation. Lance also attempts to ignore the slight concern he felt for Keith upon seeing his earlier expression and tries to put it out of mind.

Keith doesn’t show up again for the rest of the day.

XxX

It’s during dinner that same day that Allura and Princess make the announcement that Lance has been quietly dreading.

“Paladins, if we could have your attention for a moment.” Princess says, just as they all take their seats at the table. Lance immediately notices that Keith is the only one absent. Lance’s thought doesn’t linger for long as his attention is drawn away when Allura rises alongside Princess at the head of the table.

“Princess, Shiro, Shirogane, and I have discussed it extensively over this past day and believe that we should summon a wormhole in the morning and return to our own Universes.” Allura announces, allowing for them to absorb her words before speaking again. “While we are aware of the growing attachment between our alternate selves we do need to recognize that we simply cannot remain dormant for very much longer. The Universe needs us... _all_ of us.” She says, gazing meaningfully at the occupants of the table. Lance turns to McClain, meeting his gaze. McClain’s brows crease in sadness, before looking down at the table and away from Lance’s stare. Akira rests a comforting hand on his shoulder while Lance lays his own hand on top of McClain’s, intertwining their fingers and lightly squeezing. Lance looks up and sees similar reactions between the other paladins. Hunk and Tsuyoshi look particularly heartbroken. Pidge and Gunderson look resigned but Lance can see that their chairs have moved closer together. Allura is laying a hand on Princess's shoulder and offering a kind smile Coran and Hieronymous both look close to tears. And both Shiro and Shirogane are sitting together in a quiet silence. Dinner passes with relatively little conversation and each pair heads off to their shared dwellings as soon as the table is cleared.

Akira has taken to spending his nights in a different room, giving up his room to Lance and McClain, so when it comes time to separate he waves a silent goodbye in their direction before entering his temporary residence. Lance is sure he’ll be relieved to have his room back once the Universes realign but McClain has grown particularly attached to it so he may have to end up sharing. Not that Lance thinks he’ll complain about it. Lance and McClain continue the quiet trek to their shared pad, but as they pass Keith’s room Lance slows to a stop. McClain does as well, shooting him a confused gaze.

“You go ahead. I’ll catch up.” He says, offering McClain a small smile. McClain has a hesitant expression but nods and continues walking. Lance watches him turn the corner out of the hallway before approaching the door. He knocks twice and steps back to await a response. Five tics pass and Lance knocks again. No response. It’s possible Keith may just not be in the room. He could be in the hangar, medical bay, training deck, command center, or any of the numerous rooms the castle holds...or he could be ignoring Lance’s knocks. Lance steps forward a final time, making sure to bang particularly loud on his final two knocks. If Keith doesn’t answer this time then he can just return to the room and crawl into bed with McClain. Lance stands in the empty hallway for almost ten tics before scoffing and turning to leave. Just as Lance turns his back to the door he hears the familiar _‘whoosh’_ sound of it sliding open. Lance turns his head and sees Keith leaning against his doorway and staring at Lance. He looks awful, his face is puffy and his eyes are slightly red either from crying, rubbing, or a combination of both.  Lance feels some concern rise before squishing it back down and returning Keith’s solid gaze. He doesn’t say anything, doesn’t ask why Lance is visiting him so late at night, or what he wants. He just stands there and stares, just like he’s been doing the last few days.

“Allura and Princess are going to summon the wormhole tomorrow.” Lance informs him, breaking the silence that had descended between them. Why is he doing this? It makes no sense, it’s not like Shiro wouldn’t have filled Keith in the next day. So why is Lance bothering to tell him this?

Keith doesn’t react. Just nods quickly in understanding and down to the floor, away from Lance’s gaze. Lance watches him for a second before turning to leave because what else is he going to say? He didn’t exactly knock on Keith’s door with a full conversation in mind. He just wanted to...see Keith. He hadn’t been at dinner and Lance hadn’t seen him all day and even though Lance’s feelings might be conflicted about Keith he’s still Lance’s teammate and that’s why Lance checked up on him. That’s the only reason why.

“Are you going to miss him?” Keith asks suddenly. Lance turns back around, his brows raised in slight surprise that Keith said anything at all. Lance waits for him to elaborate on who he’s talking about but he doesn’t so Lance assumes he’s referring to McClain.

“Yes.” Lance answers honestly. Keith tenses and his face flashes in a mixture of hurt and anger.

“ _Why?_ ” He asks desperately. Lance frowns and turns back to face Keith fully.

“What do you mean _‘why’_ ? I _like_ him. I consider him my _friend_ . I’m _allowed_ to miss my friend when he leaves.” Lance says incredulously. Keith’s jaw tightens and he looks down at the floor, his fists clenched at his sides.

“But why do you like _him_ ? Why not anyone else? Why not _literally_ anyone else?” Keith asks through gritted teeth. Lance feels his frown deepen and bewilderment begin to seep in because why does Keith have to be so _confusing_ ? Seriously _, what is this?_ Why does it matter whether or not Lance likes and will miss McClain? How does that directly affect Keith _in any conceivable way?_

“What are you _saying_ ?” Lance asks, feeling quite exasperated. Lance throws his arms up and takes a step closer feeling bitterness begin to rise. “I don’t get you! I don’t get you at all! I thought I did but maybe I didn’t! I don’t know!” Lance yells, putting his head in his hands because _why_ can’t Keith just be open and _tell_ him what he means! That’s literally all he has to do is _tell him_.

Keith takes a single step into the hall, bumping his chest against Lance’s and forcing him to look directly at his face.

“What I’m saying is that he can’t take _you_ too!” Keith begins, his volume far louder than Lance’s. “ _That’s not fair!_ ” Keith exclaims, his eyes clouded in what could only be pain and that was enough for Lance to pull back because while he and Keith may not always get along Lance never actually wanted to hurt him. Keith is huffing heavily, his lips is trembling and being so close Lance can see frustrated tears beginning to gather in his already red eyes. Lance raises his hand to offer Keith some comfort, because dammit he’s not _heartless_. But Keith backs away before he can, stumbles back into his room and lets the door slide closed before Lance can get another word in. Lance is left standing alone in the hall, his hand still in its raised position. Lance holds his breath and reaches out to knock. His knuckles just barely graze the door before he pulls back. Lance hesitates, staring at Keith’s door with an unsure expression. Keith was upset, that much was obvious, over what Lance isn’t sure- it’s not like what Keith said made much sense. Lance sighs deeply and takes a step back, he gives Keith’s door a final lingering look before he turns and  walks in the direction of his room.

When he arrives, McClain is already in bed and looks up at the sound of the door sliding open. Lance’s expression must say something because McClain scoots over and lifts the covers for him, letting Lance take his time undressing before crawling under the sheets. Lance closes his eyes the second his head hits the pillow and lets McClain pull him into his arms, tucking his head under McClain’s chin and waiting for sleep claim him. His final thoughts just before he drifts off aren’t about how he’ll miss sharing a bed with McClain but about Keith and whether he’s alright now or if he’s still letting frustrated tears gather in his eyes.

Needless to say Lance’s sleep is restless that night.

XxX

Morning comes sooner than Lance and McClain would like. The two wander into the command deck as soon as they wake up, just as they had been instructed. Lance sees that they are the last pair to arrive, walking in at a snail’s pace and meeting the gaze of the others already there (he notes that Keith is not present). Lance wanders over to his control panel, leading McClain as he does. The two end up sharing the space, similarly to how Lance and Akira had that first day that they met. Lance looks up and spots Akira at his control panel, turning in his seat and offering a small wave to them. Lance raises his arm in greeting before letting it fall back down. Lance watches the entrance to the command deck, waiting for Keith to enter. He doesn’t. And Allura and Princess begin activating the wormhole without him.

Lance drowns out the speech the two Alteans are giving and instead turns to face McClain, leaning in close enough to whisper in his ear.

“Tell mom that you love her before you leave the solar system.” Lance says. McClain’s brows crease slightly in confusion.

“What?” He asks, turning away from Princess and Allura to face Lance.

“Please.” Lance whispers. “Just let her know that...for me. Your phone should still connect to a satellite, but mine probably doesn’t anymore...it’s been months...they’ve probably cancelled my plan by now.” Lance says quietly. McClain is silent for a moment but then slowly leans in to place a chaste kiss on Lance’s lips.

“For you? Of course darling.” McClain says, a not-quite-real smirk on his face. Lance returns the not-quite-genuine expression- it’s nice being allowed to pretend you feel better than you do, having someone know that you’re faking, and then having them play along. It gives Lance a sense of fulfillment that he’s going to miss once McClain is gone. McClain reaches for his hand just as the castle gives a sudden lurch that Lance has associated with the beginning of a jump. The projecting screen at the front of the room is offering a view of a blue tunnel with clashing bright colors that Lance instantly recognizes as the interior of the wormhole. Lance looks away and tightens his grip on McClain’s hand, who does the same. Lance’s heart is in his throat and he squeezes his eyes shut as the exiting lurch shakes the castle.

Suddenly Lance’s hand is grasping nothing. Lance’s eyes shoot open and he looks beside him. The space where McClain should be is completely empty. Lance touches the spot with a shaky hand and looks up at the rest of the room, which suddenly feels so much emptier. Akira’s not in his seat. Allura’s the only one at the controls, looking beside her as if expecting someone to be there. Hunk is standing, looking forlorn. Pidge is similarly staring at the empty spot beside them. Coran is glancing around the room as if Hieronymous might be hiding somewhere and Shiro is looking down, not showing his expression to the rest of the room but Lance has no doubt he too is experiencing the sense of loss they all are. The monitors at the front all reveal that they are still within Earth’s solar system, but this time it’s just them.

The paladins and Alteans all file out of the room silently. The castle suddenly feels far too quiet.

XxX

It takes a while for them to all bounce back. Lance is surprised when he wanders into his room and finds it exactly the way he left it, trinkets he’s collected from various planets litter a nearby desk,  his Blue lions slippers are settled right by his bed, his bathrobe is hanging in the closet along with his pajamas. It’s his room, the one he’s made his own and Lance’s sadness is lightened somewhat by just how _right_ it feels. He hopes McClain is feeling the way he is too.

When the team meets for breakfast a few hours later they’re startled to see too many plates and too much food laid out on the table.

“I forgot.” Hunk mumbles sadly when they turn questioning gazes to him. Lance feels his heart tighten at the sight and makes sure to spend the rest of the day with Hunk, attempting to get back into a routine with just them. Lance wonders if McClain is doing the same.

As Lance and Hunk attempt to get back into the groove of things Lance notices Pidge popping up occasionally and settling into a corner nearby to fiddle with their laptop. Lance supposes it must be the loneliness getting to them. Pidge has always been a bit of a lone wolf, _‘just like Keith’_ he adds mentally before swishing it away. So Pidge must be unnerved by the sudden silence of the castle, even if it’s what they tend to prefer, the sudden change must still need some getting used to.

Lance hasn’t seen hide nor hair of Keith that entire evening but according to Pidge they had seen Shiro and Keith on the training deck earlier. Lance figures that if Keith wants to continue to avoid him then that’s...just fine. Lance had tried and if Keith ever decides that he wants to go to Lance and actually explain himself then Lance would be waiting. But of course that doesn’t happen...because Pidge decides to intervene.

The thing about Pidge is that they tend to do their own thing, and usually let everyone else do _their_ own thing too (so long as that thing doesn’t intervene with _their_ thing). Which is why Lance was completely lost a few days later, once everyone had settled and begun getting used to being a seven person team again and Keith had begun showing up for meals and team training. Pidge had simply approached Lance out of the blue about it, Lance wasn’t even sure if anyone had noticed anything off about his and Keith’s relationship (the only thing which was off was the fact that neither were even speaking to each other). Pidge had popped into the room that Lance happened to be relaxing in and settled into the couch across from him. Lance thought the two were just going to share a comfortable silence but was proven wrong when Pidge spoke, breaking the peace that had fallen between them.

“When are you going to talk to Keith?” They ask, not looking up from the tablet they’re messing around with. Lance chokes on the straw of his water pouch.

“What?” He asks, his voice slightly scratchy. Pidge glances up at him.

“When are you going to talk to Keith?” They repeat. Lance raises a brow and begins fiddling with his water pouch.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You two haven’t spoken in days, and I noticed this before we even returned to our proper Universes so when are you two going to suck it up and just talk?”

Lance sighs and feels his shoulders slump in exhaustion. “Look...Pidge. It’s more complicated than that.”

“No it’s not. Just talk.” They reply.

“I already tried that! I didn’t understand anything about what he was saying.” Lance groans.

“Which is why you need to talk.”

Lance sighs and looks up at Pidge, narrowing his eyes slightly. “Why are you so insistent on this?”

“I’m an arm. Keith’s an arm. Arms need to stick together, plus you’re my friends so I care about you guys a little.” Pidge explains.

“So you’re trying to resolve emotional conflict between me and Keith?” Lance asks. “Isn’t that more Hunk or Shiro’s thing?”

“Hunk is too much of a softie to tell you to actually do it and Shiro stinks at self-care much less the care of others- he once told me he was scared he was going to forget to feed us one day and we’d all starve.” Pidge says. “Plus I’m the only one of us that’s not above using blackmail to meet my ends.” They add. Lance is confused for a second before he hears his own voice being projected from the tablet Pidge is holding. _‘One time mom bought us a pair of girl’s underwear by mistake. They were pink with little bows on the side and out of curiosity we tried them on, and you know what?...We kinda liked it.’_

Pidge pauses the recording with a smirk and Lance is left sputtering, his face flushing a hot red.

“Wh-wha? How? When?” Lance stutters, eyes focused on the tablet in Pidge’s hands.

“Maybe next time you’ll be little more careful about what you say near listening devices.” They say far too happily. Lance is gaping, his eyes widening in astonishment. “But I’ll tell you what, if you actually talk to Keith and I mean really _talk_ to him then I’ll delete it and no one will ever know.” They say, their eyes seemingly sincere.

“You’ll know.” Lance protests.

“Yes. But would you prefer just me to know? Or do you want the entire castle ship to know? Would you really do that to poor, sweet Hunk?” They ask, fluttering their eyelashes at Lance. And no, Lance wouldn’t want that recording to get out because he just knows that the judging looks he’ll get from the others is something he cannot come back from. So rather than come up with an excuse or raise another protest Lance simply slumps in defeat and mumbles out an agreement, Pidge only offering a triumphant smile in return.

XxX

Lance thought that tracking down Keith would be tricky considering the two had taken to staying out of each other’s way, but apparently Pidge had access to all the monitors in the castle and immediately informed Lance that Keith was in the Red Lion’s hanger. Lance set out for the location at a sedate pace, secretly hoping Keith will have left by the time he arrived. He was wrong. Keith was still in the hangar by the time he got there. Keith was facing away from him when he entered the room, looking up at Red with an unreadable expression. With only some hesitation and a heavy stomach Lance called out to him.

“Keith!”

Keith’s back instantly tensed in surprise and he whipped around, setting widened eyes on Lance.

“Lance.” He breathed, his expression confused before he turned his head away from Lance and set his gaze on the floor. Lance approached Keith slowly, unsure about whether he would just suddenly end the conversation like he did last time and leave. Keith flinches and it suddenly occurs to Lance that he had spoken his thoughts outloud.

“I’m sorry for...that.” Keith says quietly. Lance feels his brow rise.

“Yeah, what was up with that anyway.” He mumbles not really expecting a response. Keith swallows thickly and wrings his hands together.

“Lance-” He begins.

“What’s been up with you?” Lance cuts him off. “I mean… you reject me, then you start following us around because you can’t stand to see McClain and Akira happy together and need to do something about it, then you ignore us, and then you get mad when I say I’m going to miss McClain- just...I….just _what the fuck man_?” Lance asks, his voice raising in pitch and clearly incredulous because these are questions that have been _burning_ at the back of Lance’s mind this entire time. Keith’s eyes are the size of dinner plates and his mouth is opening and closing in shock.

“Do you...do you hate me that much?” Lance asks quietly, his chest beginning to sing in pain that had been soothed away for so many days.

“N-No!” Keith sputters, his eyes astonished. “I-I don’t- when have I ever?-what makes you think that I?- t-that’s not true!” Keith says, stumbling over his sentence before he sucks in a quick breath and stares directly into Lance’s eyes. “I don’t hate you.” He says seriously.

“What?” Lance asks, feeling a weight of relief lift off his shoulders at the words.

“I’ve never hated you.” Keith insists. “How could I?”

“Wha-? B-but you rejected me!” Lance exclaims, his eyes burning at the memory. “By the elevator during McClain’s first time training! You said that what we have is nothing like what McClain and Akira do!”

Keith’s face becomes tense and he looks at the ground. “Yes. I did... And It’s true.”

Lance swears he feels his heart break all over again.

“I mean did you see how they were interacting?” Keith asks quietly. “Laughing together, enjoying each other’s company, helping each other...you and I don’t do that. We’re always fighting, arguing, making each other mad… and we’ve known each other longer than they have but... they still...get along better than we do”

“That’s bullshit.” Lance interjects, Keith looks at him with stunned eyes. “You and I get along just fine. You think we’d be able to form Voltron if we didn’t? Plus of course they’re going to get along better than we do. McClain never went to the Garrison remember? You and I are rivals, we compete against each other, we fight, that’s what we do, that’s our _thing_ .” Lance says, taking a step closer to Keith. “I know that I can be a pain in the ass and I know that you can be too arrogant and holier than thou for your own good. I _realize_ that, but i like you anyway.”

Lance expects Keith to say something about how heartwarming it is that Lance still like him even though he’s been an asshole and inadvertently toyed with Lance’s feelings. But instead he says-

“When have I been arrogant?”

Lance feels his brows raise in disbelief. “I just bared my soul and _that’s_ what you ask?” He says incredulously.

“It’s a legitimate question.” Keith insists. Lance scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“You’re trying to tell me that you, little Mr. _‘sorry, gotta be quicker’_ or _‘akira is no indication of my skills’_ or _‘this is my chance to put an end to the galra empire’_ isn’t arrogant?” Lance asks. Keith narrows his eyes at Lance.

“Those are all true, how are they arrogant?”

Lance groans. “Alright, let’s just leave that stuff be for now, it’s an argument for another day.” He sighs. “So you...like me? Like actually really for real?”

Keith nods without hesitation.

“So then what was all that other stuff about?” Lance asks. Keith sighs and looks down.

“In case you didn’t notice I didn’t exactly trust Akira.”

Lance nods and pretends as though it wasn't completely obvious.

“So since me and Akira were so similar I noticed pretty early on...the way he looked at you.”

“Looked at me?” Lance asks.

“He wanted you.” Keith says plainly. “You’re interesting… he probably saw that right away and formed a stupid crush.”

“Awww.” Lance coos. Keith straightens up, looking indignant.

“Don’t _‘awww’_ it!” He hisses.

“Why not? It’s adorable. Plus he’s already got McClain...lucky bastard.” Lance mutters under his breath. Keith raises a brow.

“Do you not remember how he was rubbing his face against your hand that time you guys were sitting in the lounge?” Keith asks, his voice pitching in a way that has Lance frowning.

“...Is that why you left and avoided us for the rest of the day?” He asks. Keith hesitantly nods. Lance feels realization flood him and straightened up. “Wait a second! So when I visited your room that night and you got mad when I said that I would miss ‘them’. You thought I was talking about-”

“Akira.” Keith finishes for him. Lance stares at Keith in astonishment and isn’t sure about whether he wants to laugh or cry. Fuck it, he’ll do both. The sounds that suddenly erupt from Lance startle Keith enough for him to jump in surprise. Lance is breathing harshly as he pushes out sobs and trickles of laughter, but stops breathing completely when Keith begins slowly wrapping his arms around Lance.

“Wha? What are you doing?” Lance asks. Keith’s arms are tensed and awkward and Lance isn’t quite sure about what he’s trying to do.

“Hugging.” He says as he tries to push down Lance’s head to rest on his shoulder. “I’m comforting you.”

Lance releases a snort of laughter after a moment of frozen shock because this is unbelievable. This is _un-freaking-believable_ . Because somehow, _somehow_ Keith’s hugs...are worse than Akira’s.

Keith’s arms are still wrapped around him in a weird way, and he’s trying to force Lance’s head to lie down on his shoulder even though Lance is an inch taller and the head-rest-on-neck only works if you’re taller or laying down. It’s hands down the worst and most unsatisfying hug Lance has ever received. But it’s from Keith, a Keith that is desperately trying his best.

With a slightly breathy laugh Lance turns his head slightly and presses a soft kiss to Keith’s cheek. Keith immediately freezes and pulls back, gazing at Lance incredulously.

“What was that?” He asks, sounding vaguely offended. Lance raises a brow. “Akira didn’t get a kiss on the cheek.” Keith says, frowning. Lance immediately feels a smirk crawl across his face and leans in close, letting his lips just barely graze Keith’s. Lance is about to continue leaving lingering touches on Keith’s lips when suddenly the Red Paladin surges forward, practically attacking Lance’s face. Lance lets out a grunt of surprise into Keith’s mouth.

The kiss lacks all finesse, there’s no patience, just raw _passion_ as Keith slides his lips and tongue against Lance’s. Keith slobbers on Lance more than he actually kisses him. It’s so _uncoordinated_ , Keith is tilting his head this way and that. He’s smushing Lance's cheeks together as he holds them in his hands. He's treating kissing like it’s a competition and he wants to _beat_ Lance.

It’s the greatest kiss Lance has ever had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> technically the end (excluding the epilogue)  
> EDIT: THIS AMAZING PERSON MADE ART INSPIRED BY THIS FIC AND IM STILL IN SHOCK AND MY HEART CANT TAKE IT[BECAUSE ITS ADORABLE!!!!](http://rejected3.tumblr.com/post/169471365520/insp-fic)
> 
> and now info about the epilogue-it's going to be smut. who's it going to star you ask??? who knows maybe it's lance and mcclain, or maybe it's lance, mcclain, and akira, or maybe it's lance, mcclain, akira, and keith. who knows? all i know is that i have to raise the rating and add some tags.
> 
> -finally: i promised this on monday, at the latest but instead i'm uploading it at 3 am on tuesday so have some small details that didn't make the final cut:  
> ~when mcclain does call home his mom doesn't pick up so he leaves a voice mail-which to her is creepy because mcclain went missing from his rink and his message is him telling her how much he loves her and is going to miss her (the best lead they have on mcclain's disappearance is a selfie he took with a fan (akira) the day he disappeared. akira is now the lead suspect until it's discovered akira was also a missing child and now conspiracy theorists have created theories surrounding the two of them and other missing people. akira is now part of conspiracy, when they return to earth after the war and he hears about it he cries.  
> ~mcclain never discovers that akira broke into his house  
> ~when the three (lance, mcclain, and akira) were hanging together akira liked to walk behind them so he could stare at their butts.  
> ~lance has a softer, plusher butt. mcclain's is firm and tight. both akira and keith are predominantly leg men. lance and akira are butt men.  
> ~lance is the slightly better kisser between him and mcclain. akira is the slightly better kisser(only by a very small margin) between him and keith  
> ~mcclain is really flexible...like really flexible.  
> ~pidge never deleted that recording


	10. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> we all knew this would happen sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit holy shit holy shit- this took far longer to update than i thought it would usually it would take me 10 days maximum to post a chapter but this one took longer because stuff kept coming but finally i can post it!!!

What's better than Lance?

Normally Keith would say ‘nothing’ (The sole exception being when he was mad at Lance, then the answer would be ‘everything’). But there was actually, surprisingly, astonishingly _something_ that was better than Lance and that was-

 _Two_ Lances.

XxX

When Keith left the shared Paladin bathroom ,freshly showered, after a day spent on the training deck with Shiro he was expecting to come home to the bed he forgot to make in the morning and _possibly_ Lance (Lance sometimes snuck into Keith’s room at night for cuddles). Keith regularly went to bed tired, and even if wasn’t he was still always the _first_ to fall asleep out of all of the Paladins when they had a ‘sleepover’, which were typically organized by Lance and Hunk. Whenever the artificial ‘daytime’ of the castle switched to ‘nighttime’ Keith always felt like some internal clock was telling him it was time to go to bed, maybe it was his half-galra genes? He’d have to ask Coran or Allura whether Galra were more diurnal than humans because that seemed like the more likely cause so far.

With bone deep exhaustion practically weighing him down, Keith dragged himself to the door of his room, waiting for it to swish open upon sensing him. As soon as it did he released a breath of weary relief. That breath was sharply sucked back into his body immediately upon entering and catching sight of Lance writhing underneath the long, tan body of...McClain?

Keith watched ,with stunned eyes, as McClain crouched between Lance’s spread legs, firmly running his hands down Lance’s sides, and gently fondling his butt. Keith instantly felt his face flush in embarrassment, the heat from his cheeks practically radiating as he quickly took a step further into the room and allowed the door to slide close behind him. It’d be no good if someone were to walk past his room and catch sight of...this.

Keith gulped as Lance released a breathy laugh, his head tilted back as McClain eagerly kissed his throat. The sight was so reminiscent of the night he had barged into Lance’s room to see if Akira had decided to make himself comfortable, but was instead met with the sight of two mostly naked Blue Paladins getting...handsy. Keith had _long_ since left the stage of denial he had suffered directly after he had witnessed that particular escapade, he was...at least to _some extent._ ..deeply attracted to the sight of Lance and McClain...together. Keith didn’t know if it was a kink thing, or a _double-the-fun_ thing, or if he was just _that_ deprived of affection that he decided two would always be better than one. That last reason did make sense, even though he didn’t show it much, Keith did love it when Lance’s attention was on _him_ . It made him feel special...adored... _loved_.

A sudden broken moan brought Keith back to reality and he swore he almost collapsed as he saw McClain happily throw off Lance’s sleeping shirt and begin kissing his chest, leaving purple love bites across the area as quickly as he could. McClain was almost _frantic_ in his treatment of Lance, Keith noted as his pants suddenly tightened at the presence of his growing erection. McClain was touching Lance excitedly and _desperately_ , as if at any moment the two would be ripped away from one another. Keith swallowed back a whine of desire as McClain gently took a dark nipple in his mouth and _sucked_ . Lance’s back arched and his mouth fell open in a silent scream. Keith couldn’t resist it anymore. He moaned. _Loudly_.

McClain slowly lifted his head, Keith’s breath hitching as he caught sight of his brown bangs curling against his cheeks and sticking to his slightly sweaty skin. McClain’s eyes glittered in amusement as he settled his gaze on Keith, staring right into his eyes as he dragged both hands down Lance’s chest before stopping at his waistband, not moving any further, just letting them rest there with clear intent. The grin that McClain offers him is alluring in every sense of the word. It was a smile that sirens shot horny sailors just before drowning their stupid asses in the sea. And goddamn if it didn’t draw _Keith’s_ stupid ass closer.

McClain suddenly lifted up from his kneel and grinned down at Lance as he suddenly pushed his jean covered crotch against Lance’s, finally moving his hands down the rest of Lance’s body and holding his thighs open as he slowly ground against him. Keith watched, fascinated, as Lance’s eyes slid closed and he bit down on his wet bottom lip, releasing small hums of pleasure. The sight was so undeniably arousing, so-so- _this_ was what pure, _unadulterated sex_ looked like. For the first time in his life Keith was thankful he was born.

Keith stopped beside his bed, mutely watching as McClain smiled at him and slowly pulled away from Lance, softly murmuring an apology at the whine of annoyance from the other blue-eyed paladin, and moving over, gesturing for Keith to take his place on top of Lance. Keith doesn’t hesitate for a second before kneeling between Lance’s spread legs.

“Well looks like the gang’s all here.” McClain smirks, situating himself against the wall of the bed and giving Keith a look that said he was clearly expecting a show. Keith feels his brows furrow in confusion at that statement because as far as he knows he, McClain, and Lance have never been much of a “gang”. Towards the end it was really much more of them and-.

No.

Oh no.

Keith spots movement out of the corner of his eye and immediately whips his head around, catching sight of a brightly flushing _Akira_ ,that he hadn’t seen when he first entered the room, leaning against the wall in one of the corners. Keith feels a grimace creep across his face.

“Why are _you_ here?” He gripes. Akira matches his grimace identically and steadily approaches the bed. Keith narrows his eyes at him and slowly moves his body to cover Lance’s, attempting to block his view. Akira raises a brow and gives him a look that says _‘really?’_. Keith shrugs, he knows that Akira would’ve done the same if McClain was the one panting and stripped bare on the bed (he still didn’t trust the other boy after all and he knows that Akira likely felt the same way about him.)

“We were going to wait for you.” McClain says, crawling closer to Lance and Keith. “But you were taking too long and I...really missed Lance.” McClain says as he presses against Keith’s side and plants a soft, apologetic kiss on Keith’s cheek. Keith flinches in surprise and stares as McClain winks and leans across him, puckering his lips up at Akira who is standing beside them. Akira’s smile is fond and gentle as he leans in and presses his mouth against McClain’s, who hums in content when he pulls away. Keith feels something begin to churn in his stomach at the sight of the intimate moment between the two of them. It wasn’t a particularly _bad_ feeling, but it was...mushy? The good kind. (According to Lance there were different levels of ‘mush’).

Keith feels a slightly sweaty hand tap against his cheek and turns his gaze down to Lance who is staring up at him, eyes half-lidded and shiny mouth hanging open. Lance looks like an absolute _dream_ and Keith has to take a second to collect himself. Keith takes a steadying breath and meets Lance’s gaze, his own likely equally as desiring as the one Lance is shooting him. Keith slowly raises his hands and allows them to hover over Lance’s body. Keith hesitantly lets the tips of his fingers brush against Lance’s hot skin and relishes in the slight hitch of breath he hears as a result. Keith bites his lip and focuses his gaze. When McClain invited Keith to take his place Keith had mostly done it without much of a second thought. He wasn’t really thinking with his head on that one...well he was thinking with _one_ of them at least.

Lance was looking up at him, blue eyes shining in anticipation and a perfectly moisturized lip caught between his teeth. And Keith...didn’t know what to do. He was under no impression that he was at all an expert at…“pleasures of the flesh”. That was outside his skill set. But the thing is that Keith likes Lance, _loves_ him even. But Keith has never been much of a ‘wordy’ person, he tended to _show_ people how he felt. He told people off with his flying and his fighting, expressed disapproval through silence and glares, implied happiness through the curve of his lips and brightness of his eyes. But Lance...Lance was unmapped territory, he made Keith feel things he never had before. It’s just as he told Akira, Lance is the first person Keith has truly _truly_ liked. How is he supposed to tell Lance that when he’s never even _experienced_ it before? Sex and flirting and stuff were all Lance ‘things”, they were what pretty much everyone on the ship associated with him. But during the months that Lance and Keith had gotten together, Keith discovered that Lance was actually remarkably...nonchalant about actual, real, not ‘big talk’ sex. That is to say that he hasn’t made a move (which sucks because Keith was sorta hoping that Lance would be the first person to do something.) Whenever they would make out Lance’s hands never wandered lower than Keith’s shoulders- he’d stroke Keith’s hair, kiss his neck, cheek, and face-but never anywhere _else_ . It was frustrating because Keith _wanted_ Lance to kiss and touch him in other places, _he_ wanted to kiss and touch Lance other places too.

So Lance needed to be the one to make the first move because...because Keith didn’t want to disappoint him. Being with someone in an intimate way was nothing like piloting or fighting, he wasn’t naturally good at those things- he needed to actually work for good result in this (evidenced by the fact that Lance had quite mercilessly told Keith that he ‘sucked at kissing’). Keith’s hands still lingered just above Lance’s naval for a second longer before they suddenly made contact with the warm skin and Keith’s eyes widened in surprise.

“He wants a firm touch.” A voice whispers in his ear, hot breath caressing the side of his throat. Keith slowly turns his head to face McClain who is currently laying their hands on top of Keith’s as they press onto Lance’s body. Keith slightly tilts his head and McClain smiles indulgently, like Keith is a soft, stupid puppy that needs to be taught how to do basic shit. And it’s true. Keith will admit that he may need...guidance on this and Lance and McClain certainly had a better idea of what to do than Keith.

McClain guides Keith’s hands down Lance’s sides, allowing Keith to feel Lance’s well cared for skin. It was like velvet, warm and smooth under his touch as McClain stopped Keith’s hands at Lance’s hips. McClain begins pressing Keith’s hands more firmly on Lance, alternating between hard and soft pressure. As Keith steadily gains his own rhythm, massaging Lance’s sides, McClain lifts his hands up and pulls away. Keith feels a moment of panic surge through him at the loss of his instructor when suddenly he feels a weight press against his back and two familiar hands begin working their way across Keith’s chest, stroking him through his shirt.

“Touch him more.”McClain whispers hoarsely into his ear. Keith swallows and begins moving his hands further south, kneading Lance’s thighs and applying the lightest pressure on Lance’s crotch. Lance releases a low gasp and tilts his head back, exposing his throat.

“ _K-Keith_.” He murmurs, gripping Keith’s wrists and moving them closer to his still covered dick. McClain laughs lightly against Keith’s ear and Keith feels his grin press against his cheek.

“Oh we’ve always been so impatient.” He breathes before turning his head and bumping his nose on Keith’s cheekbone. “You remember our first time?” He asks, giddiness clear in his voice. Keith is confused for only moment before Akira answers from his other side, kneeling beside the bed.

“How could I forget?” Akira replies, much to the surprise of Keith. “You ambushed me after training and told me you wanted to _“thank me”_ for all my help.” Akira says, a dreamy smile on his face. Keith briefly wonders if he ever makes that expression around Lance, maybe then he could understand why Lance bothered putting up with him at all sometimes. McClain’s arms slip under his and begin quickly sliding down Lance’s pants and underwear in one full tug.

“Lift your hips a little.” McClain instructs and Keith immediately obliges. McClain slides Lance’s pants off one leg before letting it hang on the knee of the other, leaving Lance completely naked below Keith. Lance is staring up at Keith, his eyes full of desire and hands gripping Keith’s biceps.

“Keith.” He breathes. “ _Please_.”

Keith’s breath stutters as his gaze heavily roams Lance’s body. A sheen of sweat coats his chest, his cheeks are a bright cherry red, his pretty mouth is tugging on his plush lips, and his even prettier cock is flushed a light pink. _‘I did that’_ Keith thinks to himself as he focuses his gaze on Lance’s _somehow_ pretty dick. Keith has seen a few dicks in his life, a majority spotted in the communal showers at the Garrison, but Lance’s has got to be the nicest. The head is a nice rosy color, it’s thin but also long, similarly to how Lance himself is built.

“ _Keith_ .” Lance says pleadingly, his expression all but begging Keith to do something, _anything_. Keith doesn’t get a chance to think because McClain moves his own hands onto Lance’s cock, gripping it in one hand and pumping it at an agonizingly slow pace. Keith watches, transfixed, as McClain presses his thumb against the leaking slit, rubbing it with just the slightest pressure. Lance’s hips are thrusting up, attempting to get McClain to move faster with his hands and whining his displeasure at the current pace. Keith feels McClain smile against his neck, where he is resting his head.

“There’s no wrong way to give a handjob.” McClain says conversationally, as if he isn’t currently jacking Lance off right in front of Keith. “It’s the enthusiasm that really gets people.” He offers as he twists his wrist in a way that has Lance gasping. “It’s simple really. Just avoid using your nails and squeezing too hard, we’re very sensitive.” McClain whispers into Keith’s ear before suddenly pulling his hand off of Lance and letting him thrust against the empty air. Keith listens to Lance’s cry of sadness at the loss of McClain’s hand and slowly slides his own hands down to grip Lance. _‘There’s no wrong way to do it’_ He assures himself as slowly begins moving his hand up and down, squeezing slightly when he reaches the head, just like he does when he takes the time to masturbate. Keith’s breath gets heavier as he keeps a close eyes on Lance’s reactions, trying to see what he likes. Lance keens when Keith presses his thumb against Lance’s head, similarly to how he had seen McClain do. Keith feels a grin form on his face at the reaction and does it again, and again, and _again_. Just as Lance’s cries rise in pitch and his back begins to arch up, lifting away from the mattress- McClain pulls Keith’s hands away.Both Lance and Keith let out frustrated cries, Lance at the loss of his orgasm and Keith at the loss of being able to see Lance’s face when he finally brought him to completion.

“Don’t be so _hasty_ .” McClain teases as he forces Keith to rest his hands on Lance’s thighs. “Take your time.” He whispers, stroking the side of Keith’s face. “It’s always _so much better_ like that.” McClain says as he wraps his arms around Keith in a half hug, nuzzling Keith’s hair. “I can show you.” McClain breathes. Keith shivers at the feeling and nods silently, agreeing. McClain hasn’t let him down so far.

“Akira.” McClain says like the name is some sort of signal. Keith spares the other boy a glance as he crawls closer to the bed, still seated beside it. Keith watches as Akira approaches Lance, holding out a hand and beginning to caress the side of his face. Lance immediately leans into the touch. Keith bites his lip, watching as someone with his face continues to touch Lance gently. McClain’s hands slide down Keith’s front and stop at his crotch, lightly squeezing where Keith’s cock is pushing against the fabric. Keith releases a grunt as McClain begins stroking the area, but never reaching into Keith’s pants and pulling it out.

Keith touches himself himself only semi-frequently, but on multiple occasions he has imagined _Lance_ as being the one touching him- and those fantasies always left him feeling more satisfied than normal. It seemed like the blue eyed paladin just _did it_ for him. Keith huffs a breath as McClain finally reaches under the waistband of Keith’s pants and begins touching keith with his bare hand. Just a single pump is all it takes and Keith is almost cumming in his pants. McClain must sense it because he immediately pulls his hand away.

“Not yet.” He says, grinning against Keith’s neck and begins lowering Keith’s pants to his thighs. “You and Akira are so alike, always so eager to finish, never taking the time to... _savor_ it.” He adds, playfully nipping at Keith’s neck

Keith grunts and wants to mention how Lance was just as eager as him but is suddenly reminded of the scene he had walked in on. He doesn’t know how long Lance and McClain were enjoying each other before he arrived but he knows that if he had been in Lance’s shoes then no amount of patience would’ve kept him from blowing his load. So instead he decides to let his protesting mouth click shut.

“How’s he doing baby?” McClain asks, turning his head to face Akira and Lance. Keith also lets his head turn and feels his lungs seize at the sight of Lance tongue fucking Akira. Keith is sure his face is a deep scarlet as he soaks in the sight, Lance’s pink tongue peeking out as he traces Akira’s upper lip. Akira’s eyes are closed as he leans close to Lance who has a solid grip on his hair and is keeping him locked in place. Keith knows better than anyone just how good Lance is with his tongue and feels just the slightest bit of envy before it’s swished away as McClain wraps a hand around his dick again. “Is he ready?” McClain inquires. Keith is confused at the question, but that confusion is immediately cleared when Akira tries to shake his head and pulls gently away from Lance. Akira is breathing heavily, his hair completely askew as he pants.

“A-Almost.” He says breathlessly.

McClain makes a slightly excited sound but Keith is finally fully relieved of his confusion when Akira moves to pull his hand away from Lance’s lower half. Keith takes a shaky breath as he watches Akira slowly pump his fingers in and out of Lance before pulling them out with a _‘squelch’_ sound.

“Need more lube.” Akira murmurs and picks up a small blue bottle resting on the pillow by Lance’s head. Keith’s eyes are glued to the translucent bottle with a clear, viscous liquid sloshing inside. Akira uncaps it and is about to squeeze more onto his fingers when McClain interrupts.

“Wait.” He says, making Akira give him an inquisitive tilt of his head. “Let Keith try.”

Akira turns his gaze to Keith and wordlessly offers the opened bottle to him.

“Fully coat your fingers instead of just dumping some out on your palm.” McClain instructs as Keith accepts the blue bottle. Keith nods mindlessly and watches as the clear liquid runs down his fingers, immediately coating them. The liquid is a lot thicker than it looks, almost having the consistency of jelly without the clumpiness. Keith gulps, and rubs two coated finger together, enjoying how easily they slide past one another. McClain wraps a hand around Keith’s wrist and slowly lowers it to Lance’s twitching hole, letting Keith sink a finger in before pulling his hand away.

Lance moans, his eyes closed as Keith slowly slides a single finger in and out of his warm insides. Keith sinks down to the knuckle before slowly dragging it back out, even with his lack of experience Keith has still watched porn- he knows how prep is supposed to work. But what confused him was why-

“Why isn’t Lance topping?” Keith asks, not tearing his eyes away from Lance’s expressions. It made sense didn’t it? Lance was more...experienced than Keith, wouldn't it make sense for Keith to be the one getting fucked?

“You ever put something in your ass?” McClain inquires. Keith doesn’t even have to look at them to see their grinning expression. “It may have been a while for Lance but he’s still more used to taking it than you are, but don’t worry you’ll get your turn one of these days.” McClain assures, softly pecking Keith’s cheek. Keith lets out a murmur of agreement and adds a second finger, slowing as he meets more resistance and hears Lance let out a low groan. Keith works both fingers inside of Lance, pushing them in and out, waiting for his hole to loosen further. McClain picks up the blue bottle and drizzles more on Keith’s hand, letting it run down his wrist and onto his fingers. Keith bites his lip as Lance tightens around his fingers a bit.

“Curl your fingers.” McClain breathes into his ear. Keith shakily nods and curls his fingers, feeling them hit Lance’s walls. “Move them around a bit.” McClain adds, pressing tightly against Keith’s back. Keith breathes through his nose as he turns his wrist, searching, finding- Lance gasps and grips the sheets in a tight fist. “Found it.” McClain says triumphantly. Keith nods, a bead of sweat running down his nose as he tries to hit that spot again, he wants to see Lance gasp again.

“ _Keith!_ ” Lance gasps, legs tightening around Keith’s waist. “Keith, _please!_ ” He whines, eyes scrunched closed as his nice flush travels down his neck. “I’m ready!” he insists, pushing his hips up to meet Keith’s fingers. “I’m ready! I’m ready! Please, _oh please!_ ” He chants, panting heavily in exertion. Keith feels his own dick twitch in anticipation, his slit leaking heavily as Lance whined and writhed underneath him. Keith nods, and gently pulls his fingers out, enjoying it immensely when Lance suddenly tightened around them as he finally tugged them out. Keith released a slow breath as he lined himself up with Lance’s wet hole, applying a bit more of the viscous lube and pumping twice before pushing in slowly.

“ _Shit_ .” Keith hissed as his head pushed through the ring of muscles, heat enveloping him as he slowly sank in inch by _agonizing_ inch. Keith steadily pushed in further, stopping for a few seconds before continuing to sink into Lance, unable to resist the delicious warmth gripping him. “ _Lance_.” Keith moaned, panting as he finally bottomed out, pressed fully against Lance’s ass.

“ _Keith_ .” Lance moaned, his hips gyrating so _slowly_.

“Lance.” Keith whined,  his mouth unable to form any other word. “ _Lance. Lance. Lance._ ” Keith chanted, slowly pulling his hips back, and immediately snapping them forward. Lance released a cry of surprise and whimpered as Keith began to thrust into him, his dick only going in halfway before being pulled back out again. Lance whined, grabbing the sheets in a white knuckle grip and letting his mouth fall open as he let out small pleased cries.

Keith sank his nails into the meat of Lance’s hips as he brought Lance closer to him, trying to sink deeper into Lance as his hips snapped forward at a rapid pace, chasing the orgasm he could feel approaching, the build up growing the harder and faster he thrust into Lance who enthusiastically pushed his hips back to meet Keith’s heaves.

“ _Faster_ !” Lance gasped, neck exposed as he turned to meet Akira’s kiss. “ _Please Keith_ .” Lance sobbed, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Keith nodded, mouth hanging open in an attempt to catch his breath as he snapped his hips faster, _harder_ \- McClain began kissing Keith’s shoulder, stroking his naked hips as they pushed into Lance. McClain’s hands left trails of electricity behind as they held onto Keith’s hips in a bruising grip and began pushing them harder as they thrust into Lance. Keith gasped at the tightening walls around him as Lance began crying in pleasure, moans released into the mouth of Akira who was kissing the edge of his mouth in small, peppered kisses. Keith stroked his thumbs against Lance’s hip bones and watched McClain’s hand slither up Lance’s thigh and wrap around his leaking, red cock. Lance released high gasps as McClain squeezed, pumping him in time with Keith’s thrusts, faster, and faster, and _faster_ -

“Where do you want it?” McClain asked, his breath coming out in pants. “Lance baby where do you want it?”

Lance whined, a single tear escaping. “I-Inside.” He gasped. “Oh god, inside! Please _inside_!” Lance sobbed.

Lance suddenly tightened around Keith, his walls gripping Keith tight enough to prevent him from moving and finally, _finally_ squeezing an orgasm out of Keith. Keith closed his eyes tilting his head back and releasing a drawn out moan, as he came, releasing into Lance who was moving his hips and milking him for all he was worth.

“ _Lance_.” Keith gasped, the high of his orgasm weakening his limbs and making his lids heavier. Lance whined and pushed his hips against Keith’s, not letting Keith pull out until he’d finally gone soft. Lance moaned as keith slowly pulled out, his dick coated in a shiny sheen of lube and white cum. Lance let his head thump back on the pillow and slowly ran his fingers through his own release coating his stomach.

Keith was locked in his kneeling position, unable to move until McClain slowly maneuvered him down, pushing him into Lance’s open arms who immediately began cuddling him and kissing the tip of Keith’s nose. Keith watched McClain wipe his jizz soaked hand on the sheet of the bed and lay down behind Keith. Akira slowly rose up and crawled over Lance and keith’s naked bodies to reach McClain’s side, who eagerly welcomed him. It took a few minuted for Keith’s heart rate to go down and for his breathing to return to normal. Lance was planting soft, gentle kisses on the top of his head and murmuring praises.

Keith let his eyes brush over McClain and Akira who were bundled up together on the other half of the bed.

“How?” He voiced weakly, his voice heavy with sleep and satisfaction. “How...can you be here?” Keith asked. Now that he thought about, that probably should’ve been the first question he had when he found McClain on top of Lance.

McClain tilts his head back at him and lets a tired smile form.

“Pidge and Gunderson were researching the possibility of being able to bring our Universes together...at least one more time. And they did...but anymore and we’ll end up destabilizing both our worlds, so I figured if we’re never going to get to see each other again, why not go out with a bang?” McClain asks, shrugging his shoulders as Akira wrapped his arms around him. Keith is unsure if the phrasing was purposeful or if it was a happy accident. Knowing how Lance could be, it was likely a mixture of both.

“And plus I heard from Lance that the two of you hadn’t done the horizontal tango yet.” McClain adds, smiling cheekily. Keith raises a slightly incredulous eyebrow.

“And you have?” He asks, weren’t their Universes supposed to mirror each other? Well...they mirrored each other up until Lance and McClain were brought up. So maybe the presence of McClain meant a divergence from their mirrored lines?

“Yep.” McClain replied, nodding happily and grinning at Akira who returned the smile. “We did it like a month? A month and a half after we traveled through the wormhole.”

Keith feels his eyebrows rise higher, genuinely surprised...but wasn’t this expected? McClain and Akira got on better than Lance and Keith from the very start- for them there was no cut throat piloting program, no rivalry. They both started out as comrades and due to the fact that Akira didn’t need to bury his feeling for McClain like Keith originally did at the Garrison then it only made sense for their relationship to progress smoother than Lance and Keith’s which were riddled with misunderstandings in the beginning.

Keith feels a flick on his forehead and looks up at Lance who is grinning at him loopily.

“Don’t think so hard mullet.” He says, words slurred with sleepiness. “Too much frowning and you’ll get frown lines. So not hot.”

“Amen to that.” McClain pipes up and fist bumps the drowsy Lance. Keith scoffs and cuddles closer to Lance, letting his head rest tucked under Lance’s chin.

“Shut up you over groomed poodle.” Keith murmurs without any bite and lets his eyes slip closed to Lance’s huffing and Akira’s snort of amusement.

XxX

When Keith wakes up the next morning the only ones in the bed are him and a still sleeping Lance. Keith turns his head and washes his gaze over the empty side of the bed. Keith stretches a hand out and lets it rest on the bare space before looking back to a peacefully sleeping Lance. Keith smiles and lets his head fall back down on Lance’s shoulder.

Down to one Lance again, huh? Well. Looks like he’d just have to make do.

With that thought Keith smiles and presses a gentle kiss to Lance’s mouth, smile widening when Lance’s eyes slowly creaked open, his blue irises sparkling from the castle’s lighting. But one was good. Lance grinned up at him and tilted his head up, chasing Keith’s lips for a kiss.

Yeah. One was definitely good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mcclain was totally thinking about taking keith's virginity too not gunna lie but he had to make do with being the supportive friend on the sideline, shouting encouragement.  
> Also-keith kogane: shitty kisser, good fucker. seems like a decent trade off.
> 
> Come yell at me on [my mediocre blog](http://dairy-farmer.tumblr.com/)  
> I used to be offense-unintended but changed it so both my ao3 and Tumblr could match

**Author's Note:**

> i think since school's ending soon i'll be able to get on a regular schedule and post a chapter a week hopefully!  
> the AU for this story is inspired heavily by the blue-says au which belongs to alexandralumetta.tumblr.com, check it out! Their art is amazing and comics are hysterical.


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